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Sportsman Northwest

Your LOCAL Hunting & Fishing Resource

Volume 8 • ISSUE 3 PUBLISHER James R. Baker

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ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER Dick Openshaw EDITOR Andy Walgamott LEAD WRITERS Jeff Holmes, Andy Schneider CONTRIBUTORS Ralph Bartholdt, Randall Bonner, Jason Brooks, Tim Bush, Gordon Harryman, Doug Huddle, Randy King, Leroy Ledeboer, Nicholas O’Connell, Terry Otto, Buzz Ramsey, Troy Rodakowski, Scott Staats, Todd Switzer, Dave Workman COPY EDITING

Katie Sauro, Amy Walgamott SALES MANAGER Brian Lull

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ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES Neelam Bowers, Becca Ellingsworth, Mamie Griffin, Steve Joseph, Mike Smith, Heidi Witt, Paul Yarnold DESIGNERS Dawn Carlson, Beth Harrison, Sonjia Kells PRODUCTION MANAGER John Rusnak PRODUCTION ASSISTANT Kelly Baker OFFICE MANAGER/ACCOUNTING Audra Higgins ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT Katie Sauro INFORMATION SERVICES MANAGER Lois Sanborn

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WEBMASTER/INBOUND MARKETING Jon Hines CIRCULATION MANAGER Heidi Belew DISTRIBUTION Tony Sorrentino, Gary Bickford ADVERTISING INQUIRIES ads@nwsportsmanmag.com CORRESPONDENCE Email letters, articles/queries, photos, etc., to awalgamott@media-inc.com, or snail mail them to the address below.

ON THE COVER Randall Bonner of Corvallis with a Big Elk Creek hatchery steelhead that he landed last winter on the Central Coast stream. (RANDALL BONNER) INSET Oregon bowhuntress Krissy Knox. (KRISSY KNOX) DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS Bruce Belles of Clackacraft Boats was misidentified as Randy Belles in last issue’s Central Oregon column (p. 91).

Our apologies.

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MEDIA INDEX PUBLISHING GROUP WASHINGTON OFFICE P.O. Box 24365 • Seattle, WA 98124-0365 14240 Interurban Ave. S., Suite 190 Tukwila, WA 98168 OREGON OFFICE 8116 SW Durham Rd • Tigard, OR 97224 (206) 382-9220 • (800) 332-1736 • Fax (206) 382-9437 media@media-inc.com; mediaindexpublishing.com

CONTENTS

VOLUME 8 • ISSUE 3

FEATURES 41 63 101 104 108 113 119 157

Oregon huntress Krissy Knox Columbia Basin quail Nestucca River steelhead Wilson River steelhead Trask River steelhead Jet sledding tips Big Elk Creek steelhead Portland-Vancouver-area broodstock trout

DEPARTMENTS 13 15 16 26

135

Hold On, We’re Going to Hells!

We’re chasing fish and game from north to south, coast to Rockies this issue, and perhaps the most exciting adventure is a jet boat ride into Hells Canyon for sturgeon and steelhead. (JEFF HOLMES)

COLUMNS 55

59

71

77

CENTRAL OREGON A last-minute decision turns into a once-in-a-lifetime experience for a 15-year-old Prineville huntress.

ON TARGET A gazillion new products will be rolled out at this month’s Shooting, Hunting & Outdoor Trade Show, but Dave zeroes in on the best of the best for Northwest sportsmen.

CHEF IN THE WILD Randy delivers some food for thought – what the “imperative of protein” means for different hunters – and then serves up an Idaho take on a Caribbean fave.

STUMPTOWN Waterfowl hunting’s been great

so far this season around Portland and Vancouver, and with a little help from Ma Nature, things should keep perking, reports Terry.

81

93

THE LONG HAUL Waterfowling’s as tough or as easy as you want it to be – naturally, Jeff prefers the more challenging way.

NORTH SOUND Waterfowling this month is not unlike the fourth quarter of a football game, notes Doug, who has tips for making January a playoff-caliber performer.

127 THE KAYAK GUYS The sport of steelheading’s only for jet sledders, drift boaters, pontooners and bankies, right?

Au contraire, argues Todd, who has refined the art of fishing for chromers from a kayak.

The Editor’s Note Correspondence Big Pic: Rite of Passage News: Oregon salmon license plate scandal 28 Outdoor Calender 31 Derby Watch: Results from Resurrection, Snake-Clearwater derbies 33 Dishonor Roll; Jackass of the Month 35 Photos From The Field 38 Wright & McGill/Eagle Claw, Browning Photo Contest winners 117 Rig of the Month Vault: Jarrod’s two-timing rig 125 Jig of the Month: The ‘Hall of Fame’ UV Krusty Jig

147 INLAND NORTHWEST Ice fishing’s always iffy in our region, but January is the month you can count on hard stuff, and Ralph has the rundown on the best bets in Idaho’s icy panhandle.

153 BASIN BEACON The days of its plus-sized triploid trout are behind us, but Leroy knows Rufus Woods still puts out nice ’bows in winter – as well as eater ’eyes.

163 WESTSIDER Tim’s a man with a plan for 2015: He maps out his entire fishing year, and it’s got some great stops.

169 BUZZ RAMSEY January marks the start of show season, and for those looking to plan their out-of-state spring and summer fishing trips now, Buzz shows us some of the fun to be had.

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NORTHWEST SPORTSMAN is published monthly by Media Index Publishing Group, 14240 Interurban Avenue South, Suite 190, Tukwila, WA 98168. Periodical Postage Paid at Seattle, WA and at additional mailing offices. (USPS 025-251) POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Northwest Sportsman, 14240 Interurban Ave South, Suite 190, Tukwila, WA 98168. Annual subscriptions are $29.95 (12 issues), 2-year subscription are $39.95 (24 issues). Send check or money order to Media Index Publishing Group, or call (206) 382-9220 with VISA or M/C. Back issues may be ordered at Media Index Publishing Group offices at the cost of $5 plus shipping. Display Advertising. Call Media Index Publishing Group for a current rate card. Discounts for frequency advertising. All submitted materials become the property of Media Index Publishing Group and will not be returned. Copyright © 2014 Media Index Publishing Group. All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be copied by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying or recording by any information storage or retrieval system, without the express written permission of the publisher. Printed in U.S.A.

10 Northwest Sportsman

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NOVEMBER 2014

Northweportsma 11

12 Northwest Sportsman

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THEEDITOR’SNOTE

W

ell, that was a helluva year – and 2015 isn’t looking too shabby either!

In what will go down as a salmon season for the ages, 2014 kept Columbia River anglers in brightorange fillets from March deep into November.

We went on nearly half a million fishing Monday, Sept. 8, the day this screen grab was trips on the river taken, saw the all-time record for fall Chinook below Bonneville passage at Bonneville Dam as 67,521 raced through – a record since at the ladders. (COE) least 1982, and a total crushing of 2001’s previous high mark of 433,000 – and picked off 71,000 spring, summer and fall Chinook – 8,000 more than last year’s record – as well as 63,000 coho.

And yet even after we took our share, the commercials got theirs and pinnipeds swiped tens of thousands more, a whopping 2,046,444 adult kings, coho and sockeye had crossed the dam as of Dec. 14, the most on record back to 1938’s installation of the big plug. That shad-runlike figure was powered mostly by kings, but red and silver returns set new records – there were coho seasons from Leavenworth to Lapwai, Idaho, the Cowlitz Salmon Hatchery was swamped with 100,000, and Lake Wenatchee saw its best sockeye fishery ever.

Of course, 2014 wasn’t all as bright as chrome salmon. The smoke from the massive Carlton Complex fire had barely cleared before it became obvious North-central Washington’s famed deer herd could be in very deep trouble this winter. A huge March landslide not only killed over 40 people, but set back the recovery of fish habitat in the North Fork Stillaguamish.

Weyerhaeuser expanded its fee permit program into Oregon, where elk hoof rot also began to show up; Washington wildlife managers seem to have to settled on bacteria from livestock herds as the cause. Wild fish groups screwed with winter-run releases in Pugetropolis, though fishery interests won an Oregon court battle over clipped salmon and steelhead in the Sandy and McKenzie. And don’t even get me started on wolves and wolf people or we’ll be here all day.

Speaking of people, Garrett V.J. Elsberg, the Okanogan buck beheader, got five years in jail and over $24,000 in fines while Alan R. Aronson, convicted of illegal guiding in Central Oregon, got 30 days and $66,000 in fines. Billy Frank, Jr., the longtime Western Washington tribal chairman passed away, and this year will see new honchos heading up both ODFW and WDFW. Undoubtedly, 2015 will be just as interesting as the year that just ended – and it may be as fishy. Managers have “similar” expectations for Columbia fall kings and are predicting nearly a quarter million springers and almost 75,000 summer Chinook.

Plus, it’s a pink salmon year, and pink salmon years mean that all is good with the world. – Andy Walgamott

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Northwest Sportsman

13

CORRESPONDENCE WINTER RANGE POACHING SPARKS COMMENTS News that three trophy mule deer bucks were allegedly illegally killed in South-central Oregon in late November by Klamath Falls and Ketchikan men outraged many readers of our blog, and it also drew an interesting response – purportedly from the grandson of one of the alleged shooters.

Said Devin (last name unknown), “There (sic) not bad guys, they made bad choices. Maybe the cop shouldn’t of glorified himself by lying. This is the 15 year old grandson speaking that saw the whole thing I’m not going to argue with anyone, and this is the only comment I’m posting. Not making it right, but maybe people are tired of the Indians in this area getting two deer per month all year around. So if we truly make it equal we could prevent poaching even more, we don’t owe any Indians nothing from what our ancestors did.”

His comment didn’t sit well with many. Said Elana: “Are you seriously blaming my ancestors? I am Indian and I certainly do not get 2 tags to fill a month I also pay for my tag one per year! What does this have to do with what anybody did to anybody? Little boy maybe you should be in school learning a bit more instead of partaking in illegal activities. Shame on you!”

Added Monte Wooden, “This is an generational tragedy. You have been taught by poachers/criminals that their actions have reasonable excuses. Now you obviously believe it. Their job as parents and mentors is complete. They have created you in their own image. Now the next generation and criminal justice, will have to deal with you.”

But not everyone was ready to give up on young Devin. Said AN, “Devin, what you can do going forward is make a change. I’m not saying you have to agree with the law, but you should follow the law. They’re there for a reason. You’re a young man, you have a long road ahead of you. Now is your chance to create a new legacy for your family. It’s nice that you weren’t charged with anything to go on your record, Trooper Bean must have a lot of compassion.

The best example of a real man is to take responsibility for your actions, period. No excuses, no justifications.”

MOST LIKED PHOTOGRAPH WE HUNG UP ON OUR FACEBOOK PAGE DURING THIS ISSUE’S PRODUCTION CYCLE

Peyton White’s success on a Cowlitz River reservoir this past fall drew big likes at Facebook.com/NorthwestSportsmanMagazine. He caught the 19-pound coho trolling plugs with his grandfather Bruce Reed. Said his folks, “Peyton loves to spend all his extra time fishing with his grandpa and then eating the fish any way he can, bbq’d, smoked, or baked.” (WRIGHT & McGILL/EAGLE CLAW PHOTO CONTEST)

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Rite Of Passage A Seattle boy’s wish to try out hunting leads to a successful outing with his father.

By Nicholas O’Connell

I

t’s clear, cold and sunny, a perfect day for pheasant hunting. After driving up a dirt road east of the Yakima River, we arrive at a wide draw drained by tiny spring-fed Lmuma Creek in the sagebrush country south of Ellensburg. There’s ice along the creek, frost in the shade, and tumbleweeds scattered across the field.

Getting out of the truck, I put on my pile jacket and hiking boots. Steve Joyce of nearby Red’s Fly Shop hands my son Daniel, 16, and me bright-orange hunting vests and hats to ensure we’re visible to each other. I strap on a hunting vest, with side pockets for shells and a large back pocket for birds.

I’m nervous but optimistic. I’m new

to hunting, as is my son, who has wanted to do it for years. Unlike most Seattle kids, he has shown a great interest in hunting and less interest in school and academics.

I’ve waited till now to take him because I wanted to make sure he was mature enough to hunt safely, but I didn’t want to wait too long. Hunting has traditionally served as a rite of passage from youth to adulthood, and while it’s gone out of fashion with many of my fellow urbanites, I’m hoping it will resonate with Daniel.

Shooting at a trap range, he learned gun safety and how to handle the shotgun carefully and well. I booked the trip with Joyce because I knew he’d do a great job of introducing us to the sport. A low-key, patient man and former elementary school teacher, Joyce has a gift for explaining

things. He proved an ideal fishing guide on a previous trip and seems like an ideal hunting guide.

JOYCE HANDS SHELLS for my Remington 870 pump shotgun and Daniel’s over-andunder shotgun. We load the guns but keep the safeties on until we spot a bird. Next he opens the kennel door and his white English setter, Sally, bounds out, and runs in circles with excitement. Like most hunting dogs, she lives for this moment. She works her way around the bushes, nose to the ground, tail swishing in the air, searching for the scent of a bird.

There are at least eight birds in the draw, according to Joyce, who planted them. We’ll try to stalk one at a time. Pheasant hunting is more predictable than quail hunting, say,

A successful first hunt for Daniel and Nick; Daniel was especially proud of bagging more pheasant than his father.

(STEVE JOYCE, RED’S FLY SHOP)

where the birds travel in a covey and scatter in all directions when flushed, making shooting unpredictable and challenging, especially for novices. Pheasants are solitary birds and tend to flush one at a time.

“We’ll work up the creek,” Joyce says.

“Wait for the dog to point, then, Daniel, you come up on the right; Nick, you come up on the left. Keep your guns up when you get on the bird. Then release the safety. Put the bead of the barrel right on the bird.”

I nod, appreciating clear explanations.

Joyce breaks the process down into comprehensible steps so that we can learn and follow them. As novices, we need all the guidance we can get. Daniel, often distracted by his cell phone, listens carefully to Joyce’s directions.

We walk up the banks of the creek,

passing through sagebrush, tumbleweeds and cottonwood trees, a landscape out of the Old West. The dog works tirelessly up and down the canyon. Then she stops. Her tail spins and goes straight.

“She’s pointing!” Joyce says, starting to run. We follow suit. “Daniel, you go to the right. Nick, you go to the left. Work in a straight line, moving in toward the dog.”

We do as he says. I click off the safety on the gun, keeping the barrel high. I look over to see that Daniel is doing the same.

As we approach, the bushes explode with wings. A huge pheasant bursts out of the sage and heads straight up, 20 feet in front of me. I’m so astonished that I don’t raise the barrel fast enough. By the time I get a bead on the bird, it’s speeding off. I pull the trigger. The blast jolts my shoulder,

but the bird keeps going. Daniel shoots twice, also missing. The bird flaps its wings, heading far up valley.

“Just missed him,” Joyce notes.

The smell of the gunpowder from the spent shell is sharp and satisfying, but the disappointment is keen. Hunting awakens some old, forgotten instinct I didn’t realize I possessed. I vow not to miss next time.

WE KEEP GOING, working along the banks of the creek, watching the dog for signs of another bird. After 100 yards, she homes in on a clump of sagebrush and points.

We approach on either side, determined to get a pheasant. I move in, barrel high, anticipating the flight.

The bush erupts in a rush of wings. The bird heads backward, confounding my JANUARY 2015

Northwest Sportsman 17

Unlike many kids in Seattle, Daniel O’Connell, in the brown coat, was eager to try hunting, so after hunter ed and time at the range, his father, Nick, booked an outing in the Yakima Canyon earlier this season.

(STEVE JOYCE, RED’S FLY SHOP)

expectations. I swivel the barrel and fire. The bird drops from the sky in a puff of feathers.

Sally runs up to sniff it. Joyce picks it up and hands it to me; my first pheasant. I admire it carefully. It’s beautiful, with a blue-green iridescent head, white-ringed neck, and brown and black side feathers and long tail feathers.

It feels warm and heavy in my hand, probably weighing a few pounds, and smells like the wild sagebrush country around it.

Despite the flamboyant plumage, pheasants hide surprisingly well.

Without a dog it would be very hard to spot them. Their first instinct seems to be to run or hide. Flying is a last resort.

I take a picture of Daniel with the pheasant. He holds it up, smiling, pleased, but also determined to get one for himself. Then I put it in the back flap of my hunting vest and keep going. We have one, now we go for another.

Soon, the dog points, her tail rotating and going straight. We move up to her, clicking the safeties off.

Daniel approaches a bush and spots the bird.

“Make some noise,” Joyce encourages.

Daniel kicks the bush. The bird blasts off, rising in a thunder of wing beats. I see it clearly, put the gun to my shoulder, aim right at the bird and pull the trigger. The gun booms and the bird drops to the ground in a halo of feathers. I lower the gun and catch my breath.

My heart beats wildly. I feel a mixture of fear, anxiety and satisfaction, plus the anticipation of a pheasant feast later on.

Sally mouths the bird, clearly proud of her work. I pocket the 18 Northwest Sportsman

JANUARY 2015

JANUARY 2015

Northwest Sportsman 19

MIXED BAG bird and keep going, my vest heavy with pheasants. Daniel spots the next bird. The dog flushes it. He draws on it and downs it with one clean shot, the report echoing off the sides of the draw. He grins as he shows it off to me, growing confident in his ability to hunt.

“Good work!” I say, proud of how he’s handling himself.

We keep going, working our way back toward the car. The dog points again, but when we get up to her, there’s no bird to be found. Daniel kicks the bush, but no bird flies out.

“I see it,” he says, running after it. He chases it up the hill. I run after him, getting winded, but not wanting to miss the bird.

Daniel gets ahead of me and disappears over a small ridge. I hear the thunder of its wings as it flushes and see it flying off.

Daniel fires once and drops the bird.

“Nice shooting!” Joyce says.

Daniel walks down and picks it up.

“I really wanted to get that bird,” he says,

grinning. “I wasn’t going to let it run off again.”

I laugh. He’s coming into his own as a hunter. He struggles with paying attention in school but has no trouble paying attention now. He’s completely dialed into the hunt.

I’m pleased I brought him along. As a parent, it’s hard to know the right time to introduce your child to a potentially dangerous (though statistically safe) sport like hunting. I waited until I thought Daniel had enough sense to hunt safely, but I’m glad I didn’t wait too long. Boys who fail to find their way in life can quickly find their way into trouble, and I don’t want that to happen to Daniel. A friend told me his first hunting trip was the moment he became a man. Why hunting played this role for him, I’m not entirely sure, but it’s definitely changed Daniel, who walks with a new swagger, clearly having gained confidence in himself. As an activity, hunting remains deep within our DNA. Perhaps succeeding

RV

at it validates us at a primal level. It’s hard to rationalize, but easy to feel in the pit of your stomach: the noise and chaos of the flush, the furious wing beats of the birds, the focus needed to draw a bead, the loud crash as the gun discharges, and the elation of bringing down a beautiful ringneck pheasant.

HEADING BACK TOWARD the truck, the dog points again. We approach the bush. Daniel gets there first and flushes the bird. It rises right in front of me. I bring the gun to my shoulder for an easy shot. I fire. Miss. Fire again. Miss.

Daniel shoots and brings the bird down with one shot.

“Nice shooting!” I say.

Joyce picks up the bird and hands it to him. Daniel has three birds; I have two. He’s proud of his shooting and, at 16, enjoys besting his dad.

I’m thrilled we’ve done so well. A pheasant feast awaits.

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MIXED BAG Joyce snaps photos of us and the birds. Then he helps us field-dress them, showing us how to pull the skin and feathers off to expose the breast meat, the choicest part of the bird. He slices the breasts off with a Swiss Army knife. Each of us takes a turn doing the same. Soon

22 Northwest Sportsman

JANUARY 2015

we have 10 breasts, perfect for a delicious dinner.

After we thank Joyce and return to the car, I ask Daniel how he liked the trip.

“I’m grinning ear to ear,” he says. “Can I drive home?”

“Why not?” I say, tossing him the

keys. NS Editor’s note: The author has published several books, contributed to multiple national magazines and newspapers, operates The Writer’s Workshop Review in Seattle, and wrote for Fishing & Hunting News.

JANUARY 2015

Northwest Sportsman 23

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MIXED BAG

Tagged Out Are Oregon salmon license plates fraudulently funding state staff instead of projects, or is this just a big misunderstanding?

By Randall Bonner

SALEM—In an article published last month in The Oregonian, Rob Davis reported that funds raised from the sale of the state’s salmon specialty plates and intended to go directly towards road-related projects like removing and replacing culverts blocking migration to rearing habitat, were instead being used to pay the salary and office expenses of the Oregon Water Enhancement Board’s small grants administrator, as well as a $150,000 website improvement that makes it possible to apply for grants from OWEB online.

Around 32,000 Oregon drivers have the specialty plates, paying an extra $30 biannually to purchase or renew them.

Former state legislator Terry Thompson from Lincoln County authored the bill in 1997 that created the salmon plate. Since then, the specialty plates have raised $9.5 million, split between OWEB and state parks. But angry about news on the way money was being allocated, Thompson said, “That wasn’t what it was designed to do at all.”

The state’s Legislative Fiscal Office, which advises the Legislature on budgeting, made the decision to backfill funding to OWEB due to a decline in funding from the state lottery, rather than looking for another source to make up the difference.

OWEB’s last grant to replace a culvert with money from salmon plates was awarded in 2008. The agency began using part of the revenue to fund staff positions the following year. In the past five years, the agency has spent $420,000 raised from salmon plates to fund staff

salaries. Since 1998, OWEB has spent $142 million improving fish passage, with another $60 million going towards reducing erosion from roads. A majority of that funding comes from the state lottery and federal government.

SINCE THE STORY first appeared in The Oregonian, wording in a description posted on the Oregon state government website has changed several times, ambiguously explaining that funding from the plates would be “invested in activities that support the restoration and protection of watersheds, native fish, and wildlife, and water quality.” Funding the operations of OWEB, which functions as a granting agency funded by multiple sources, allows staff to apply for, receive and distribute funds through the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife and OWEB projects being conducted on the ground by the roughly 90 watershed councils in the state of Oregon. So in a sense, funding from the plates does impact these projects directly, even if a share of the funding goes into administrative costs instead of culverts.

“Small grants are an essential part of the value that OWEB provides to communities throughout Oregon,” noted Kyle Smith, president of the BlueBacks chapter of Trout Unlimited and communications and development director at the Calapooia Watershed Council. “By supporting the salaries of OWEB administrators, salmon plate purchasers are contributing to the work being done by Oregon’s watershed councils and the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department.”

When asked if he had salmon plates

Questions have arisen about what money from Oregon salmon license plate sales are going towards. (ODOT) on his vehicle, Smith said, “I bought salmon plates because I believe in both the organizations they help support, and they look cool! For me, it’s not just about the financial impact my $30 a year makes, but it’s about raising awareness for the fisheries we’re lucky to have in Oregon.”

Ryan Gordon, executive director of the Network of Watershed Councils, responded to the newspaper’s article by saying it “intended to invoke an emotional response, and did not fairly address both sides of the issue.”

He says it’s a misunderstanding that the funding hasn’t gone towards restoration. OWEB needs that staff capacity to be able to administer those grants. The funding from the license plate sales allows that agency to fill a hole in the budget.

“The money from those plates does in some way go towards restoration,” he added, “even if it doesn’t directly get used to purchase culverts.”

When asked if he had salmon plates on his vehicle, Gordon said, “I don’t, actually... but I just bought a car from a dealership that had plates already on it.”

Renee Davis, deputy director of focused investments and policy manager for OWEB, expressed that The Oregonian’s article created a stir because a single line from the ODOT website was inaccurate.

In defense of her agency, she explained that over $600 million in funding has been invested in technical assistance and recovery projects that support native fish and wildlife habitat. Of that figure, $142.5 million has been invested

JANUARY 2015

Northwest Sportsman 25

MIXED BAG specifically in “passage projects,” including the removal of culverts and installing bridges, along with dam removals and other projects that improve fish access to habitat. Just under $60 million has been invested in other road projects that reduce sediment and improve habitat.

Davis states that with that level of investment, “it’s important to find that delicate balance that funding goes towards on-the-ground projects, while still having the funding for monitoring and oversight.”

She also points to the agency having a 10 percent staff-to-grant ratio as being “very efficient.”

Davis recommends that anyone with concerns about budgeting should contact their legislators, but she is also happy to answer any questions about projects funded by OWEB, and can be contacted at her office. When asked if she had salmon plates on her vehicle,

26 Northwest Sportsman

JANUARY 2015

Across the Northwest, state agencies are removing old fish-blocking culverts, like this one in the North Cascades, and in Oregon’s case some of that work is funded through sales of the special salmon license plates. Coho in particular benefit from passage projects . (WSDOT) she said, “I purchased a used vehicle with the Crater Lake plates, which help fund the national park.”

She also said that half the funding from the salmon plates goes towards

projects conducted by the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department. She can be reached at (503) 986-0203 and the state’s Legislative Budget Office can be reached at (503) 986-1828. NS

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OUTDOOR

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JANUARY

Jan. 1 New Oregon, Idaho fishing licenses required Jan. 3 First of 10 brant goose hunt days in Pacific Co. (others 4, 6, 8, 10-11, 13, 15, 17-18) Jan. 10 Deadline to file Washington big game report for incentive permit eligibility; First

of eight possible brant openers in Skagit Co. (others 11, 14, 17-18, 21, 24-25) Jan. 11 Last day for Eastern Washington pheasant hunting Jan. 16 Blackmouth opens in Washington Marine Area 9 Jan. 19 Last day for Washington partridge, quail hunting Jan. 25 Last day for duck hunting in Oregon, waterfowl hunting in all of Washington Jan. 26 Harney, Klamath, Lake and Malheur Zones late white goose opener Jan. 31 Deadline to file mandatory hunter reports in Washington, Oregon; Last day for upland bird hunting in Oregon, Idaho; Last day to fish for steelhead on Puget Sound rivers outside of terminal areas, blackmouth in Area 10

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Jan. 7-11 Portland Boat Show, Expo Center, Portland; otshows.com Jan. 9-11 Great Rockies Sport Show, Metrapark, Billings; greatrockiesshow.com Jan. 16-18 Tri-Cities Sportsmen Show, TRAC Center, Pasco; shuylerproductions.com Jan. 21-25 Washington Sportsmen’s Show, Puyallup Fair & Events Center; otshows.com Jan. 21-25 Vancouver International Boat Show, BC Place and Granville Island;

vancouverboatshow.ca Jan. 23-Feb. 1 Seattle Boat Show, CenturyLink Field Event Center and South Lake Union, Seattle; seattleboatshow.com Jan. 30-Feb. 1 KEZI Eugene Boat & Sportsmen’s Show, Lane County Convention Center, Eugene; exposureshows.com Feb. 4-8 Pacific Northwest Sportsmen’s Show, Expo Center, Portland; otshows.com Feb. 13-15 SELCO’s Sportsmen’s & Outdoor Recreation Show, Douglas County Fairgrounds, Roseburg, Ore.; exposureshows.com Feb. 20-22 KDRV Sportsmen’s & Outdoor Recreation Show, Jackson County Expo, Medford; exposureshows.com Feb. 20-22 Central Washington Sportsmen Show, SunDome, Yakima; shuylerproductions.com Feb. 27-March 1 Great Rockies Sport Show, Lewis & Clark County Fairgrounds, Helena; greatrockiesshow.com Feb. 28-March 1 Saltwater Sportsmen’s Show, Oregon State Fairgrounds, Salem; saltwatersportsmensshow.com Feb. 28-March 1 Willamette Sportsmen’s Show, Linn County Expo Center, Albany; willamettesportsmanshow.com March 5-8 Central Oregon Sportsmen’s Show, Deschutes County Fair & Expo Center, Redmond; otshows.com March 5-8 Idaho Sportsmen’s Show, Expo Idaho, Boise; idahosportsmanshow.com March 6-8 BC Boat & Sportsmen’s Show, and BC Hunting Show, TRADEX, Abbotsford, B.C.; squarefeetevents.ca March 13-14 Northwest Fly Tyer RECORD NW GAME FISH and Fly Fishing Expo, Linn County Expo CAUGHT THIS MONTH Center, Albany, Ore.; nwflytyerexpo.com March 19-22 Big Horn Outdoor Adventure Show, Interstate Fairgrounds, Spokane; wildlifecouncil.com/ bighornsubsite/index.html March 21-22 Great Rockies Sport (MARK CONLIN, NMFS) Show, Adams Center, Missoula, Record Northwest Game Fish is switchMont.; greatrockiesshow.com ing things up this month. Rather than March 27-29 Great Rockies relist last year’s rundown of the few state Sport Show, Brick Breeden records caught in January over the deFieldhouse, Bozeman, Mont.; cades, we’re taking the month in stride. greatrockiesshow.com Resolve yourselves, Washington anglers, Editor’s note: Last issue’s Outdoor Calender listed a mid-February sportsman’s show in Wenatchee, but it has been cancelled due to a scheduling conflict at the facility it was to be held in. Organizer Merle E. Shuyler says it will return in 2016.

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in 2015 to haul in these game fish species which currently have no state record in the book. You could be famous!

Saltwater: Arrowtooth flounder, blue shark*; English sole, Pacific tomcod, sand sole, walleye pollock, wolf-eel Freshwater: Longnose, mountain suckers (* Image)

1/100th Of A Pound Pays Off a $2,000 18.89-pounder Scores B’ham Angler Ten Grand

T

he blackmouth were on the chew during last month’s Resurrection Derby. Over 400 were weighed in during the two-day event in the San Juan Islands, and the biggest, an 18.89-pounder, won a lucky Bellingham angler $10,000.

Steve Martin reeled that one in while Shaw Island’s Pete Nelsen took second and $2,500 with his 18.22-pound immature Chinook. Bill Havland, also of B’ham, rounded out the top three with a 17.27, good for $1,500.

A total of 413 blackmouth were caught by 313 participants.

“This year’s derby is one for the record book and can only be described as epic,” organizer Chris Long told Wayne Kruse of the Everett Herald. “The weather was perfect, with overcast skies and flat water allowing participants to fish throughout the islands and even out on the banks.”

The derby occurred on the first weekend after a monthlong king closure in the islands; during the 2013 edition, anglers faced a nor’easter.

Put on by the Puget Sound Anglers-San Juan Islands Chapter, it was the last stop of the year on the 2014 Northwest Salmon Derby Series (northwestsalmonderbyseries.com). Proceeds benefit Chinook enhancements in the islands, which benefit anglers and orcas.

The Ostroms are the Kings of the Reach. Thor, Karl and Jacob won the 2nd Annual Hanford Reach Fall Chinook Live Capture Derby with 52 during the two-and-a-halfday event in late October. The family accounted for one sixth of the 300 Chinook caught by the 64 anglers fishing closed waters for use at the Priest Rapids Hatchery. The event is put on by CCA-Washington, Grant County PUD and WDFW. (THOR OSTROM)

MORE RECENT RESULTS 18th Annual Gene Fink Memorial Winter Chinook Derby, Dec. 6-7, Couer d’Alene Lake 1st: Larry Ross 12.86 pounds, 31½ inches 2nd: Ray Allison 12.46 pounds, 31½ inches 3rd: Frank Hallet 12.44 pounds, 30 inches 4th: Clarice Priebe 12.38 pounds, 32½ inches 5th: Kelly Colliton 12.34 pounds, 30 inches Youth division 1st Alex Vedder, 10.40 pounds, 28 inches

Snake-Clearwater Steelhead Derby-goers had better odds of landing big B-runs during this year’s event. Last year’s saw the Idaho Department of Fish & Game close retention on them because of a low return to the Clearwater River, limiting anglers to the Snake, where interception is low. This hefty fish, one of dozens into the midteens, was landed Nov. 24, the day before the eventual winner caught his 17.82-pounder. (LC VALLEY CHAMBER OF COMMERCE) n angler who caught a steelhead that weighed oneone hundredths of an ounce heavier than the next largest scored $2,000 at late November’s weeklong derby in the Lewis & Clark Valley.

Darrel Atkinson of Clarkston caught his 17.82-pounder in the Clearwater River on Tuesday, Nov. 25, the day after Coeur d’Alene resident Leo Wolf pulled a 17.81 from the Snake.

They were fishing the Kendall Chevrolet SnakeClearwater Steelhead Derby, which wrapped up on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. Both fish were over a pound a third heavier than the third-place entry, Deedee Pearson’s 16.50. Wolf and Pearson, of Pomeroy, won $500 and $250, in addition to daily prizes.

Last year, Atkinson wouldn’t have been able to retain his derby winner. A low return of B-runs led Idaho fishery managers to ban retaining any steelhead in the Clearwater over 28 inches. Thankfully, this year’s return of that stock has been more than three times as large as 2013-14’s.

Ty and Brianna Rasmussen of Pullman finished one-two in the kids division with 14.86- and 13.67-pound steelhead, winning gift cards worth $75 and $50.

A

UPCOMING DERBIES Roche Harbor Salmon Classic, Feb. 5-7; rocheharbor.com Spring Steelhead Fishing Derby, Grande Ronde River, Feb. 6-March 21; boggans.com Olympic Peninsula Salmon Derby, Feb. 20-22; gardinersalmonderby.org Everett Blackmouth Derby, March 14, everettblackmouthderby.com Editor’s note: To have your derby listed or results posted here, email awalgamott@media-inc.com.

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MIXED BAG

Guide’s Actions Investigated

A

wearing a company hoodie and holding s accusations began to fly on a coho with what appears to be a freshly numerous Northwest fishing cut adipose fin. Only hatchery fish with and hunting forums as well as a healed adipose scar are allowed to be Facebook last month, a high-ranking kept in the Cowlitz and elsewhere where Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife

By Andy Walgamott wild coho and other protected stocks officer confirmed that state game wardens must be released. have been investigating allegations of A spokesman for the company, a well-known local bait freelance fin-clipping of salmon by a guide during a fishing manufacturer, alleged that the fish were processed that day by trip earlier this fall. the guide, and says they have cooperated with investigators.

The incident occurred Oct. 1 on the lower Cowlitz River, Lower Columbia coho stocks were listed in 2005 as where only hatchery coho are allowed to be retained, and threatened under the federal Endangered Species Act, though involved several staffers of a major sponsor, which parted fishermen have been able to keep wild-origin silvers in the ways with the guide the next day, according to a letter that Willamette River and its tribs above the falls as runs have was widely circulated. rebuilt there in recent years.

Whether a bone-headed move by the guide or something Beginning in September, 2014 saw a massive return of coho to else, part of the case allegedly involves a video recorded the Cowlitz. The limit was up to six fin-clipped adults a day. the day of the incident and an image of one of the anglers

JACKASSES OF THE MONTH

OSP senior trooper Darin Bean poses with the heads of three trophy bucks allegedly shot by Vern Sieminski and Charles Beck, at least one of which while accompanied by Sieminski’s teen grandson. (OSP) If you are going to break the law and poach, you run the risk of becoming our Jackass Of the Month, but to do so with a 15-year-old? That makes it automatic.

According to the Oregon State Police, in the days after Thanksgiving a trooper heard a highpowered gunshot on winter range near Silver Lake, investigated and eventually uncovered that Vern Sieminski, 53, of Bonanza, Ore., and Charles Beck, 70, of Ketchikan had allegedly shot three trophy bucks over several days and all well out of season. They were arrested and cited in lieu of custody.

It is bad enough that poachers are taking as big a bite out of Central Oregon mule deer herds as licensed hunters are, according to an ODFW study, but what makes this case even more galling is that OSP identified the 15-year-old as Sieminski’s grandson.

Seriously, gramps? That’s the kind of ethics you want to be known for passing down?

They’re Baaaa-a-ack In a now annual occurrence, Eastern European men descended in the darkness to gillnet Banks Lake whitefish during the winter spawn early last month.

And waiting for them, once again, were Washington game wardens. Three men – identified by the Spokane Spokesman-Review as Sergey Lala, 51; Leonid Lala, 47; and Victor Lala, 42 – were arrested and booked into Grant County Jail.

Officers suspect that the operation may be tied to commercial poaching.

“Obviously you don’t take home 376 fish and throw them in the freezer,” Sgt. Mike Jewell told the Wenatchee World afterwards.

Previous years have seen the gillnetters focus on the north and middle sections of Banks Lake, but December’s occurred on its southern end.

If last year’s successful prosecution of four other men, also of Slavic extraction, is any indication, jail time and fines could be in the latest scofflaw’s future, though one was set to return to Ukraine before a court date. WDFW’s operation was aided by the assignment of a Russian-speaking officer, Roman Varyvoda, to the area.

Poachers Hit Hard Late fall saw a pair of successful prosecutions of Idaho big game poachers. To wit: * Adam Harris of Archer and Brandon Harris of Ririe, sentenced for a three-month killing spree involving eight deer, one elk and one moose on Southeast Idaho winter range; fines: $104,250 “reimbursable damage assessment” for Brandon and $14,680 for Adam, plus fines associated with pleading guilty to two felonies apiece; license revocations: lifetime for both: jail time: tacked on to concurrent prison or parole sentences. * David Howell, 53, and son Adam, 29, both of Kuna, convicted in November of poaching a four-point mule deer buck near Mountain Home with a rifle; fines: $1,400; license revocations: 10 years for David, three years for Adam; jail time: 15 days, including for the first five days of October this year and next, for David, two for Adam.

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READER PHOTOS Jackson Parvo can attest to the quality of Rock Lake trout fishing, which we wrote about last issue. “Every weekend for the last month, he’s been pulling these in,” said Jeremy Murphy, who sent the image of Jackson and his far Eastern Washington brown. “Caught this one on a Mepp’s Aglia spinner.” (WRIGHT & McGILL/EAGLE

We burned a lot of space in mid-2014 talking up the trophy bass potential of Dworshak Reservoir, but maybe our eyes should have looked further north in the Gem State. Edward “Bear” Weiner caught this 5-plus-pound smallie on Lake Pend Oreille near Hope, Idaho, in late October. (WRIGHT & McGILL/ EAGLE CLAW PHOTO CONTEST)

CLAW PHOTO CONTEST)

A smolt meant for the Snoqualmie River but planted downstream at Tye Lake in Monroe, Wash., instead due to a lawsuit still provided a great first steelhead catch for Gunner Boneham, here with his ma, Joshlynn. (WRIGHT & McGILL/EAGLE CLAW PHOTO CONTEST)

Rain, rain, go away, some fishermen say, but not Kristin Bishop, here holding a big ol’ Trask Chinook from midfall. She reported the Oregon Coast river “fished great after the big rainstorm and even during it!” (WRIGHT & McGILL/EAGLE CLAW PHOTO CONTEST) Speaking of trophies and Lake Pend Oreille, here’s a pair of pretty nice rainbows caught by Jim Cummins and Ace Campbell – Ace’s went 22 pounds. (WRIGHT & McGILL/EAGLE CLAW PHOTO CONTEST)

For your shot at winning great fishing and hunting products, send your photos to awalgamott@ media-inc.com or Northwest Sportsman, PO Box 24365, Seattle, WA, 98124-0365. By sending us photos, you affirm you have the right to distribute them for use in our print and Internet publications.

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Northwest Sportsman 35

READER PHOTOS A float down the Willamette led to Alissa Thorpe’s first deer. The 13-yearold and her dad, Daryn, were hunting the extended youth season when she spotted this heavyhorned three-point in a section of the greenway. “It was an awesome experience for both of us,” Daryn said.

Wasn’t long after passing hunter ed that Aubrianne Homes, 14, notched her first tag with this three-point whitetail, taken in Northeast Washington’s Selkirk Unit. The Tri-Cities huntress bagged it with her new .270 Savage.

(BROWNING PHOTO CONTEST)

(BROWNING PHOTO CONTEST)

Kudos for tenacity!

After five years, Holly Merclich, 17, finally got her buck, this 2x3 taken with a muzzleloader in the lower Snoqualmie River valley. “Her smile shows her pride,” notes Scott Allen, who sent the pic. (BROWNING PHOTO CONTEST)

Sheila Larsson of Northwest Montana harvested a very nice and very interesting first buck. Her muley was still in velvet, despite being shot in early November. She took it with a 6mm Ackley Improved and Barnes Bullet.

(BROWNING PHOTO CONTEST)

Oregon’s extended youth season also worked out well for Josh Couch.

Working a clearcut with his dad, Scott, near Sutherlin, they bumped a pair of bucks, and with a 75-yard shot from his .243 Savage, Josh had his first deer.

“I couldn’t be happier if I shot 10 deer!” said Scott. (BROWNING PHOTO CONTEST)

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PHOTO CONTEST

WINNERS! SCOTT HENSLEY is this issue’s Wright & McGill/Eagle Claw Photo Contest winner, thanks to this photo of Jessica Hughes and her American Lake rainbow. It wins him a package worth $50 of fishing tackle!

Our monthly Browning Photo Contest winner is GARY WALL who sent this pic of his wife, Bunnie, and their grandson Hunter Wall with the ringnecks they took a few seasons back at a state release site. it scores him a Browning hat!

Sportsman Northwest

Your LOCAL Hunting & Fishing Resource

For your shot at winning Wright & McGill/Eagle Claw and Browning products, send your photos to andy@ nwsportsmanmag.com or Northwest Sportsman, PO Box 24365, Seattle, WA 98124-0365. By sending us photos, you affirm you have the right to distribute them for our print or Internet publications.

38 Northwest Sportsman

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MIXED BAG A native of Halsey, Ore., a small town on the east side of the middle Willamette Valley, Krissy Knox says that regardless of whether she ever kills another animal, she would be out there, season after season, enjoying every minute observing, learning and taking it all in. (KRISSY KNOX)

t e e MKrissy Knox

It’s all about family and being outdoors for small-town Willamette Valley bowhuntress.

By Troy Rodakowski

S

itting across the table from Krissy Hay Knox, a small-town gal from the middle Willamette Valley, I note her aqua-blue eyes grow larger and larger with an emphatic glow as

she tells me of the close miss she had recently with an elk. On the last day of bow season she had stalked within just a few yards of the bull. She was about to sling an arrow into its vitals when the wind swirled.

In the moment it broke her heart and

dashed her hopes.

“I shed a few tears after that one,” she says, then adds with an enormous smile, “but I’d go hunting every day from here on out, even if I knew I’d never bag another animal.”

Knox, who grew up in Halsey,

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MIXED BAG Knox has enjoyed success bowhunting elk, deer and turkey, but her love of the outdoors extends to searching for sheds, mountain runs, camping and fishing, and introducing others to the woods.

(KRISSY KNOX)

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southeast of Corvallis, has been doing this a long time, with the help and support of her family, and people are recognizing her for what she has done and continues to do.

She knew at a very young age where she wanted to spend her time, and it’s been deer camp since she was 4 months old.

“When I was around 6 my dad shot a three-point mule deer, and I remember listening to the stories as he was going through the entire skinning process at camp. I was hooked.”

Her passion for bowhunting has grown immensely over the past 12 years, and she has become a well-known individual in her community, bagging several spectacular elk, deer and turkeys. Her main hunting partner and best friend is her

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Knox and her brother Ryan Hay are each other’s hunting partners, and also amongst the best archers in Oregon. (KRISSY KNOX)

brother, Ryan Hay. They have established a unique bond and friendship and are each other’s biggest fans. It is quite rare to see pictures of them without each other, and both are among the top archers in Oregon.

Knox’s love of the outdoor world extends to scouting, shed hunting, three-dimensional shoots, hiking and mountain runs, and she loves to include her 3-year-old son, Jesse, on as many adventures as she can, including camping and fishing trips with the family.

“He was so excited to see me bag my 2014 fall turkey, and he cheered me on as I walked toward him down the hill,” she adds.

Jesse is one of the major reasons for her passion for the outdoors.

“I think it’s so very important to hang onto what you do when you have children.”

She believes that adults have a responsibility to lead by example, find a way to get the kids involved, so someday they can do the same for their own children.

GROWING UP IN a Christian home, Knox’s role models and influences were always close at hand.

“I always looked up to my parents and grandparents, aunts, 44 Northwest Sportsman

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MIXED BAG “My grandpa was a very special influence to me and was always encouraging me as I grew up,” says Knox of her “Grampy,” whose name she writes on all of her arrow fletchings. (KRISSY KNOX)

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uncles, brothers, cousins and other relatives. These bonds and influences have carried on through a lifetime, and is something we as outdoor enthusiasts need to hold close to our hearts, no matter who our role models may be as we grow and teach,” she says.

But after being diagnosed with terminal cancer, her “Grampy” and longtime hunting partner informed her that that particular season that he would not be able to hunt with her. It was a letdown because of his influence and encouragement.

“But he just knew I would tag a buck and he told me he would be waiting on the porch to meet me and see it firsthand,” Knox says.

While Grampy passed just a few weeks prior to the late archery season that year, as it turned out, his predication did come true and she killed a nice buck.

With tears welling in her eyes she explains to me how she kept her end of

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Northwest Sportsman 49

the deal and sat on the porch to show him her trophy.

“Despite being late for dinner, I sat there for what felt like hours, crying and praying that God would let him steal one peek into the back of my truck,” she tearfully adds.

Knox’s connection to the mountains is very strong. It is a place where, for only a few short days a year, she can breathe deeply and test her own resolve, while trying to bag an elusive wapiti.

“There really is no way to describe what it feels like when a herd bull is screaming in your face and you wonder if you will even have the strength to draw your bow back if he gives you the opportunity,” she explains.

During the holidays and time with the relatives, the family sets a timer to quit talking about hunting. Then they spend time visiting about other things.

I had to laugh, as this is a very familiar situation for many of us, except some of us haven’t quite figured out the timer part yet!

Knox hopes to continue to share her passion with everyone she meets, especially women and children. With her very friendly face, it will be hard for people to resist her enthusiasm for the outdoors.

“Everyone has to start somewhere, and if I see that little bit of fire in someone’s eyes, I don’t ever want to let that opportunity pass me by,” she says.

Whether she’s teaching archery to kids on the weekends, giving seminars, or advocating for hunting on TV, she will surely be doing the outdoor industry justice for many years to come.

Regardless of where this woman ends up in life, I know one thing for certain: Grampy will look down on her with a very proud smile every day. NS Editors note: Knox is a prostaffer for BowTech, Mossy Oak and Babes with Bows. She serves on the board of Oregon BowHunters and belongs to NFAA, RMEF, Mule Deer Foundation, NRA and Oregon Outdoor Council. In addition she is a certified archery instructor and a full-time research scientist in the ag chemistry field.

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COLUMN

Prineville Teen Has Hunt Of A Lifetime I

t was literally a lastminute decision – and one that would turn into a once-in-alifetime experience for 15-year-old Allye Savage.

CENTRAL OREGEON

BY Scott Statts The story begins on May 15 at about 10 p.m., which was the deadline for last year’s Oregon big game controlled hunt application period. Allye’s dad James was sitting at his computer reviewing the hunts that he had submitted for his family when he realized that he hadn’t put Allye in for the bighorn sheep draw.

“I thought to myself, ‘Why even bother? Nobody ever draws a sheep tag.’ I guess my judgment got the best of me because I realized that somebody has to draw it, right?’” recalled James.

He got the application in just minutes before the online system shut down.

FAST FORWARD TO a day in June when James was watching his son enjoying his first week off of school at a local swim center. He checked the draw results on his phone to see if they had been posted yet. They had.

James saw that he had drawn the elk tag he was hoping for but was disappointed that his son hadn’t drawn his. Then he checked the results for Allye and noticed that she was successful in everything he had put her in for. Then he went back to watching the event and put down his phone.

After a minute he thought back to May and couldn’t remember if he had put Allye in for the bighorn sheep hunt or not. He

Her hunt, the West Deschutes River No. 2 Unit, ran from Oct. 18-26. There are no public roads to the top of the canyon on the west side, but there was a public access road along the east side of the river where they could glass the canyons across the river to her unit. James says they almost grew addicted to watching the sheep and how they interacted with each another.

Allye is a sophomore and also on a varsity soccer team. Since it was in the thick of the sports season, she didn’t want to miss any of the games, so she only had the first and second weekends to hunt, with little time for scouting. But she’s no novice to the hunt: Over the past couple She shoots, she scores! Prineville hunter/ of years she has killed a few mule soccer star Allye Savage made good on drawing an ultrarare permit to hunt bighorn sheep in deer and a cow elk.

The family camped about 10 the lower Deschutes River canyon this past October. (JAMES SAVAGE) miles north of Maupin. Allye was starting to feel the pressure since most of her family and friends knew about her hunt.

They awoke on the opener at daylight to a clear, warm day.

Their friends Jim and Brenda Chapman, and Jim and Rebecca Walker arrived to help out.

The group quickly spotted five likely rams on the west side of the Deschutes, and as they planned the hunt, they saw that one of the other tag holders had already crossed the river and was half way up the canyon heading for the rams. excited she was to hunt a ram.

Allye got a bit frustrated, but while the group was standing there watching the OVER THE NEXT few months there would rams, a fisherman who James had spoken be hours of scouting as well as talking with to the day before stopped by. He told them biologists and people who had hunted the he had just seen twelve sheep across the unit before. Allye had drawn the second river about 2 miles from there. Once there season hunt, when the sheep would be they set up the spotting scopes and saw starting to rut and would most likely not two nice rams. Over the next two hours be in their summer haunts where they had they were able to locate over 20 sheep, been scouting. quickly grabbed his phone and looked her results up again and sure enough, it read “Successful.”

“I about fell off the bleachers into the pool because she had drawn one of three coveted sheep tags for the unit,” James says.

Last year about 250 people put in for those three tags.

He texted Allye and told her congratulations, she had drawn a once-ina-lifetime Oregon bighorn sheep tag.

Her reply was what you might expect from a teen: “Cool, what’s that?”

But after a pause Allye texted back to say that she knew what it meant and how

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Northwest Sportsman 55

COLUMN including numerous rams.

“As we glassed, Allye kept going back to the first two rams we had seen and said she would like to try for one of these two rams, if possible,” says James. “They were in steep terrain and bedded down near a rock slide.”

THE PLAN BECAME to float across the river and hike up a hogback that rose gradually to the top of the canyon. The sheep were located about three-quarters of the way up, and once at that level the hunters could sidehill over to the rams.

They went back to camp then launched the drift boat from the campground and floated down a couple of miles to the hogback and started up the canyon.

“We had to walk up this really steep hill for at least a half mile,” Allye recalled. “After we were level with the rams, we started walking across toward them. It was really hard walking because it was so steep. We kept tripping on the rocks. It was hard carrying all of our equipment, and it was so hot out, probably around 90 degrees.”

As they closed the distance, they dropped their packs and inched up a small ravine until they could see three rams and two ewes bunched up straight across from them about 250 yards away. James says that Allye has shot at that distance with her .243 before and felt comfortable with it.

“I glassed them over but they were bunched up so tight it was difficult to judge them,” James explained. “We got a signal from our group to keep going because the two largest rams were now in the bottom of the ravine out of sight. Allye and I inched forward until I could see the top of one ram and then a second larger ram. Both were looking at us at under 200 yards.”

They picked out the larger ram then set up the shooting sticks and put Allye’s scope on nine power. James told her to wait until the ram turned broadside and then slowly squeeze the trigger.

“I didn’t think I would get nervous, but when we got close and I got set up to shoot, I started shaking and was so nervous and afraid I was going to miss,” recalls Allye.

“I whispered to her to relax and that she could make this shot,” her dad says.

The ram slowly turned broadside and she fired. It jumped forward another 10 feet. Allye quickly got set up and fired again, dropping the ram in its tracks. James yelled “That’s my daughter!” as loud as he could and heard everyone down across the river yelling and screaming.

But all of a sudden they saw the ram begin to roll. It had fallen in the middle of a steep rock slide and rolled about 30 yards before fortunately coming to rest.

“Allye had a huge grin on her face, and I could see her finally relaxing,” recalls James.

“I gave her a huge hug and told her how proud I was of her.”

He ranged the distance at 161 yards but says it was almost a straight downhill shot.

Allye says she wanted a ram with a nice tip and a near full curl, and that’s what she got.

The 5½-year-old ram scored 147 3/8.

“It was an amazing experience,” Allye says. “I knew it was a once-in-a-lifetime hunt and it was a lot of fun.” NS

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58 Northwest Sportsman

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COLUMN

Three New Guns Worth Attention In 2015 L

ater in January, the annual Shooting, Hunting and Outdoor Trade Show will unfold at the Sands Convention Center in Las Vegas, where ON TARGET

By Dave Workman tens of thousands of shooting industry manufacturers, wholesalers, retailers and buyers will gather, along with a few hundred outdoor and gun writers – and bloggers – to examine some of the hot new guns and gear for 2015.

SHOT, as it is more commonly known, is the biggest guns and gear show in the world, but it is not open to the public. If you’re not part of the industry, you won’t be able to attend.

Each year, on the day before the show opens, there’s a “Media Day at the Range,” which provides an opportunity for writers and video journalists to sample the new guns. It’s an opportunity for me to hook up with old pals and compare notes and observations.

This is about the 30th year I’ve written a SHOT Show preview (this time for Northwest Sportsman’s sister publication, Western Shooting Journal), and some guns really got my attention. We’re going to take a look at them here, and next month, I’ll look at a few more.

FOR OPENERS, BROWNING is expanding its AB3 bolt-action rifle series. The AB3 got my attention when it was introduced last year because it has a composite stock with a recoil-reducing Inflex recoil pad.

Truth be told, I dislike recoil

and anything that knocks it down is fine with me.

It’s got a couple of other features that interest me, e, including a bolt lock override button and a 60-degree bolt lift that makes for quick followup shots. The safety is on the top tang, right where your thumb can find it in a heartbeat.

The AB3 has a detachable box magazine, and overall, it’s the kind of rifle that seems tailor-made for the Northwest environment.

The stock is impervious to rain, and it’s already chambered in some very popular calibers up to 7mm Remington Magnum and .300 Winchester Magnum.

Right before Thanksgiving, Ruger announced a new version of the popular LCRx revolver in .38 Special, and what makes this appealing to me is that it has a 3-inch barrel and an adjustable rear sight.

This new handgun will likely draw plenty of attention to the Ruger lineup for 2015, along with mid-2014 introductions of the LCR 9mm and LC9s, also chambered for 9mm. Rest assured I’m going to beat feet to the Ruger tent at the gun range to run some ammunition through this fiveshooter for a thorough evaluation.

The additional inch on the barrel and an adjustable sight make the five-shot Browning AB3 bolt-action

Ruger LCRx revolver in .38 Special

exposedh a m m e r double-action wheelgun perfect for concealed carry, home and business protection, and even for packing along on the trail. trail Having shot small game in the past with a .38 Special, I’m expecting a fair number of these guns to show up in backpacks or on belt holsters belonging to campers and hunters in the fall.

It’s got a Hogue Tamer Monogrip, stainless-steel barrel, matte black Synergistic hard-coat finish and exposed hammer. Like all other revolvers in the LCR family, it has a polymer fire-control housing, aluminum monolithic frame and patented friction-reducing cam. The cylinder is heavily fluted to help keep the weight down, which will make it appeal to those who want a firearm for the trail that doesn’t weigh much.

Ruger says the LCRx 3-inch will handle +P ammunition, which makes sense to me because the snubnose version that’s been around for a while will also take +P ammunition and I had good luck testing this revolver. With the right rounds, this little revolver will stop coyotes and cougars.

The LCR five-round revolver joined other guns in the family chambered for .22 Magnum,

JANUARY 2015

Northwest Sportsman 59

COLUMN .22 Long Rifle, .38 Special and .357 Magnum. The difference with those guns is the exposed hammer. There wasn’t one, and I prefer exposed hammers on double-action revolvers because they allow for crisp single-action work for small game.

AS FOR SHOTGUNS, recent years have seen me tilting more toward 20-gauge models and away from 12s, although I have shot more grouse than I can count, plus pheasants and chukar, with the latter.

There are a fair number of new 20-gauge smoothbores this year, both pump guns and doubles, so there will be no shortage of

including a couple of lightweights with alloy receivers.

Anybody who has ever tramped a ridgeline for grouse or hiked the Snake River canyons for chukar, or simply crossed what seems like miles of corn stubble looking for fat ringnecks, soon appreciates a lightweight shotgun. Pack one around for a couple of hours and the fewer ounces make a difference.

One of these days, I plan to pull the plug on work, but instead of hanging out at the house, messing around in the garden or sitting on the porch, I’m going hunting, and renewing a war on trout and salmon that has been on hold for a while. Might even get real serious

CZ-USA Wingshooter Elite possibilities.

Winchester, Browning, CZ-USA Wi h B i CZ USA and several others have new models,

60 Northwest Sportsman

JANUARY 2015

about spring turkey hunting, and as if to tease me into it, i i severall gun companies i are offering full-camo shotgun models

designed for the turkey hunter.

There are also after-market turkeyspecific chokes on the way, and enough new ammunition to keep me busy at the range day after day.

And here’s a little shopping tip. I recently visited one of the big stores and found shotgun shells at bargain prices.

Now is the time to stock up so that you will have plenty of ammunition to keep in practice and be prepared for next fall.

Keep your eyes peeled for off-season sales and specials designed to get people into those stores in hopes you’ll spend money on something else. Write a list, budget your post-holiday cash or take along any gift cards you may have gotten at Christmas.

Now that the days will begin getting a bit longer, start walking around the neighborhood at least a couple of times a week. Lift some barbells. Stay in shape and work off the flab that may have formed over the holidays. In about nine months, you’ll thank yourself for it. NS

62 Northwest Sportsman

JANUARY 2015

HUNTING

The Early-year Birders Get Late Quail Waterfowl season isn’t the only wingshooting going on in January – topknots and other upland birds are available too.

By Jason Brooks

I

had jumped the covey of birds out from the edge of an orchard and began working the sage hillside to pick up singles and doubles. As I was standing next to a large brush pile and watching my dog, a bird erupted out of the snow right at my feet. Startled, I jumped the shot and missed. My dog ran back to me but I had nothing for her to find, so I coaxed her back to hunting. Soon she was on point with her head buried in the sagebrush. I walked up and kicked the bush. Snow dumped onto my dog and the bird flushed. Luckily, this time I didn’t miss and made up for soaking my pup.

The author’s son holds a late-season quail, taken in the Columbia Basin, where the species is open through Jan. 19, as are partridge. Pheasant closes after Jan. 11. (JASON BROOKS)

WINTER IS ONE of my favorite times to hunt quail. With fresh snow on the ground and the cold, short days, I tend to notice that the birds hold tight and won’t venture too far, even when flushed. Knowing where the birds are is as simple as finding a piece of ground that holds feed and cover. The telltale prints in the snow give the birds away, and thanks to their hold-tight behavior – so as not JANUARY 2015

Northwest Sportsman

63

HUNTING to expose themselves to predators – you can walk up on the birds fairly easily. In the early season, birds will ush just outside of gun range and split apart. You’ll need a dog to locate the separated birds. But in the winter, if you can locate a covey – either by making a sentry call or by ďŹ nding tracks in the snow – a dog isn’t always necessary. I have jumped several birds out of one bush by just repeatedly kicking it. Even then I have had a bird ush behind me as I walked away and I startled into a snap shot.

Once you hit a bird, it can be a blessing and a curse to ďŹ nd it. Often you’ll ďŹ nd oating feathers lying on the snow, but if the snow is a foot or more deep, it may cover the fallen bird. Thanks to my Vizsla, I ďŹ nd most of my downed birds.

Well, sometimes my youngest son Ryan likes to play “bird dog� for us, too, and will help on doubles while

Thanks to the birds’ response to calls, a hunting dog isn’t entirely necessary for quail hunting, but once a covey is broken up, it can be hard to get any to rise without one, advises the author, who owns a Vizsla. (JASON BROOKS)

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HUNTING the dog is busy. But once a covey is broken up, it can be hard to get a single quail to rise if you don’t have a dog. Sometimes I walk away to let it settle back down. Once I hear the birds calling back and forth again, I start my hunt back up.

AS FOR WHERE to go, the rim of the Columbia Basin has many opportunities to check out.

Grant County is home to the Columbia Basin Wildlife Area which is where you can find great quail hunting all the way to the end of the season, in mid-January. Some of the more popular areas are the lower Crab Creek and Winchester Wasteway areas, as well as the scablands near orchards of the Wahluke and Royal Slopes. Make sure you are on public lands or have permission to hunt the private grounds. If you can hunt near an orchard, you’re sure to be in birds most of the day.

66 Northwest Sportsman

JANUARY 2015

Yes, that’s the outline of a quail after being shot and crashing into a snowbank. (TONY McCUTCHAN, FLICKR)

Further west are state and federal lands in the Yakima Canyon. The Umtanum Creek drainage has a WDFW access site at the top and a BLM bridge at the bottom, which

crosses the Yakima River. Also try the Whiskey Dick and Quilomene Wildlife Areas near Vantage, but make sure you know the rules and access points for PSE’s wind farm.

HUNTING One thing I found is that the closer you get to the Columbia River near Vantage, the more ground cactus you run into. Take along a pair of pliers to pull them from your dog’s feet and from your boots. Once you locate the cactus, it’s a good idea to move and find another spot.

The creek and river bottoms near Tri-Cities hold a lot of birds. Locate lands along Highway 12 from Pasco to Walla Walla. You’ll find quail, along with pheasants and a few grey partridge. As you near the Blue Mountains and the breaks to the Snake and Grande Ronde Rivers, look for draws that are choked with Russian olive to find the birds.

North-central Washington is also known for its quail. Chelan County usually has one of the highest harvests recorded each year.

Unfortunately, the Mills Canyon fire burned a lot of the Swakane Wildlife Area along the steep slopes above the

Columbia. This area is mostly known for chukar, but the lower drainages held a lot of quail.

Further upriver in the Okanogan area, head to the Brewster Bar Wildlife Area with a few boxes of nontoxic shot. It’s along the river and it’s now required for all bird hunting.

There are lots of places to hunt quail, and by this time of season, they may have faced a few guns, so don’t focus all your efforts on one spot. If I hunt a spot and find fewer birds, I make sure to move on. I don’t like to overhunt an area.

THE BIRDS WILL be in their winter plumage, with thick feathers. I like a 20-gauge shotgun for quail. I feel the 12 tends to ruin too many birds, and this late in the season I up my shot size to 6s. Though the birds hold tighter, I have wounded a lot of lateseason birds with size 7½ or 8 shot.

A modified or improved cylinder choke seems to work best for me.

I also make sure to have a call in my pocket. Quail are one of only two upland birds that will reply to a call, chukar being the other. Once I break up a covey and work an area over, I will take a break and let my dog rest. The birds have decent eyesight, but if you sit down in the brush and wait, eventually you will hear them calling. That’s when I will call to them. I locate where the birds have settled down and work my way over to them.

With a soft blanket of snow on the ground, head out to find quail tracks. Once you get out there you will find that winter quail are a lot of fun to hunt.

Unless, of course, you happen to flush a bird at your feet when you are least expecting it. Then the snap shot and heart-thumping will warm your cold hands. NS

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The Imperative Of Protein M att was quickly rolling up an old two-track and heading for the top of the mountain when two spruce IN THE WILD grouse appeared.

By Randy King Immediately he stopped the quad, letting my oldest son Noah and me off. We followed the grouse into the brush. When we

CHEF

spotted them, Noah ground-busted one with his iron-sighted single-shot .22. The other bird flew a short range and landed; Noah could not see it, but I could. Grabbing the little gun I shot it.

Two grouse for the pot in less than 30 seconds. We quickly grabbed the birds, tossed them in the back and continued up the mountain for our bear hunt.

It never even occurred to me that I had just broken the golden rule of grouse gunners.

BACK IN BOISE I related the story of our grouse to an upland game-hunting buddy. He proceeded to ridicule me for being unethical. Apparently, grounded grouse, quail, pheasant and other game birds are off limits. They have to be “on the wing” to be considered shooters.

Frankly, I was a little miffed. I am an ethical hunter, but according to these rules (not laws, to be clear), I can’t shoot a grounded, running or treed bird.

The author and hounds head afield in Idaho. (RANDY KING)

JANUARY 2015

Northwest Sportsman 71

COLUMN

CURRIED PIGEON WITH PEAS Curry is a gift from the culinary gods. It can take even the most mundane section of meat and make it delicious. Case in point: the often-overlooked pigeon.

I have shot pigeons on duck hunts, dove hunts, quail hunts and grouse hunts.

They are a universally available bird that, in the pot, is much like dove. I shoot pigeons when the rest of the day has gone to hell; I have an imperative for protein.

Hunting is about many things, and food is a vital part. I feel better coming home with something, even if it is a ground-shot pigeon or two for the pot.

In the Caribbean “pigeon peas” are popular. I make a riff on the classic “curried pigeon peas” with a dish I like to call “curried pigeon with sweet peas.”

The Bird 4 pigeons, plucked and gutted 2 tablespoons red curry paste Salt and pepper Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Toss the pigeons in the curry paste, making sure to evenly coat each one. Season lightly with salt and pepper. Add the pigeons to a roasting pan and place in the oven breastside up, like a turkey. Roast for 20 minutes.

Remove from the oven and cover with foil.

Wait five minutes before serving to let the meat “rest.”

Use the juices on the bottom of the roasting pan as the sauce.

Curried pigeon with peas. (RANDY KING) 1 teaspoon red chili flakes ½ medium red bell pepper, diced ½ cup basmati rice 1 cup water

The Peas

1 tablespoon butter 4 cloves garlic, thickly sliced

Add butter to a small sauce pot, heat on medium until melted. Add the garlic, red chili flakes and red pepper. Cook on medium heat until the garlic is browned.

Add the rice and stir. Add the water and bring mix to a boil. Cover and let simmer for 15 minutes on low. Remove from heat.

Reserve, off the heat, for the rest of the pea dish.

When the pigeons come out of the oven, add the frozen peas into the pot with the rice. Add the additional chicken stock, and stir to incorporate. Simmer until the peas are bright green and cooked, about 3 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

For more recipes, see chefrandyking .com.

But intrigued, I looked into this hunting norm.

The argument against groundbusting birds is based on several factors.

First is safety: Shooting a grounded bird when numerous hunters are driving birds and dogs are working the field is dangerous. I can’t argue against that.

The second argument for wingshooting is “fair chase.” As defined by the guru of such things, Jim Posewitz

in his book Beyond Fair Chase, that means “the balance between the hunter and the hunted. It is a balance that allows hunters to occasionally succeed while animals generally avoid being taken.” According to the upland purists, ground shooting takes away that balance. Grounded birds are essentially defenseless, and defenseless birds are easy targets. Easy targets are not fair chase. That is a hard argument

to undermine.

I will concur that a grounded bird is somewhat defenseless – unless you count natural camouflage and running speed. Ever try and shoot a running rooster? Ever spot a motionless ruff in the thick? Those natural abilities keep as many, if not more, birds alive than does flying. They’re not migratory, after all; flying for these ground birds is a last-resort situation. So is it ethical to

The Rice

72 Northwest Sportsman

JANUARY 2015

1 cup frozen peas ½ cup chicken stock Salt and pepper

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COLUMN Continued from page 152 shoot them when it’s their last resort? I (RANDY KING, ALL) don’t know.

BUT, IT SEEMS, customs have neither to do with ethics nor fair chase. Let’s take baiting for example. Hunters can use apples to bring in bears in Idaho, but the practice is illegal in Oregon and Washington. Are the Idaho hunters unethical? Are they not applying the rules of fair chase? It is perfectly legal in all three states for a hunter to wait in an apple orchard for a bear to come along. Different scenario, but the same effect. Which one is fair chase and which one is not? Why does setting apples out for a bear differ from letting a bear eat from piles of apples under a tree? Doesn’t the only advantage then go to the person who owns the orchard?

To some, baiting is unethical. To others, our Southern and Eastern hunting brethren, for instance, baiting is the only way to hunt. In the West,

we’re spoiled with vast public lands, but most hunters elsewhere in the country are lucky to have a few acres.

Baiting to them is as natural as walking an old logging road to our “spot” is to us. It seems the balance of fair chase and ethics is quite arbitrary, based on local customs.

Turkeys are a great example of the arbitrariness of hunting ethics. Wingshooting a turkey is, for some, a faux pas. What is the consideration here?

Is it size? A large tom sage grouse is about the size of a hen turkey, which are legal during our fall seasons. Can I shoot a tom sage grouse on the ground? It’s plenty big. At what point in bird sizing does one draw the line?

I could also argue that shooting a bird on the wing is less ethical than ground shooting. Aren’t the former harder shots to make? Don’t they involve more maiming and injuring?

Why should hunters subject birds to more pain and suffering just to be

“sporting?” Wing-shooting also points the gun into the air and away from the ground; this could be dangerous to other hunters. Get my point? Wingshooting is not an ethic, it is a custom.

The custom came about because we progressed from crawling out of a cave and looking for dinner to shooting for recreation. We imposed a limit on ourselves; a bird in the pot was no longer the primary motivation for a day afield. Sticking to an arbitrary set of rules became more important than feeding the family. Owing to human nature we turned this cultural custom into a hunting ethic.

My only request is that hunters not pass judgment on one another. If your buddy’s motivation for grouse hunting is grouse meat, let them ground bust.

If your other buddy passed on an easy grounded bird, don’t give them any grief. Follow the regulations while allowing for the many approaches. NS

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76 Northwest Sportsman

JANUARY 2015

COLUMN Mallards have been the most common ducks taken at the Sauvie Island Wildlife Area this year. If the weather cooperates, hunters should have an excellent late season hunting lands along the Lower Columbia. (TERRY OTTO)

Local Waterfowling Shining Along The Columbia

T

he sight of a pair of mallards hurtling into the decoys with complete abandon STUMPTOWN gets a duck hunter’s

By Terry Otto blood up every time.

It’s even better when their shots are well placed, and the dog has work.

This scenario has played out a lot this season, as fall cold snaps sent northern birds down into our region. Portland- and Vancouver-area waterfowlers have found the hunting to be red-hot at times, and all that’s needed for a strong finish to a fine season is the right weather in January.

HUNTING AT SAUVIE Island Wildlife Area, on the south side of the Columbia River, has been as good as anywhere this year, according to Mark Nebeker, its manager.

“It’s been a phenomenal year,” he says. “The wind and cold snap brought a lot of ducks down. We had some fourbirds-per-hunter days here.”

The better part of the take has been mallards, teal and pintails, three species that are always attracted to Sauvie. The hunting held until the first cold snap broke, but the cold fronts keep coming. Unless the weather gets freaky cold, hunters should finish out a great waterfowl season.

As winter progresses and the JANUARY 2015

Northwest Sportsman 77

marshes swell with rain, a few units always shine. Nebeker says that Mud Lake on the westside and the Hunt Unit on the eastside are always good bets for late-season shooting. Both are blind units, which means that hunters must hunt from an assigned blind.

The David Boys Marsh, named for a hunter who died on Tillamook Bay eight years ago, is a new eastside unit in its second season, but hasn’t hunted as well as expected.

“This summer it looked real good,” says Nebeker. “It had more vegetation.

But the success is still low. It may be a little too close to the road.”

Hunters started to take a few snow geese during the second hunt period, but Nebeker says that, usually, white geese are scarce during the late season.

“Once they leave, they stay gone,” he says.

The birds are mostly just moving through. They do not provide strong numbers, but hunters can take them on the wildlife area when the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Northwest goose permit seasons are open.

Be aware that, next season, the reservation system for Sauvie’s eastside units will change. The current system allows hunters with reservations to choose their unit and blind on a firstcome, first-served basis. This means hunters have been competing for spots in the “reservation line,” with some arriving in the middle of the night to get the best blinds.

But for 2015-16, hunters will be issued a number, drawn by lottery, with their reservation. This numerical order will decide who gets to choose their units first. It should alleviate hunters jockeying for position within the line.

For hunters without reservations, the system will stay the same. Hunters at the head of the nonreservation line will still get first chance at leftover units and blinds.

Westside units and blinds are assigned by a lottery, held each morning.

As for the rest of this season, it’s all about what Mother Nature serves up.

“Weather will decide what kind of hunting we have in the late months,” 78 Northwest Sportsman

JANUARY 2015

says Nebeker.

If it gets too cold, many of the birds will move off the wildlife area. If it is too warm, the birds will not move around much, and hunting will suffer. If the rains are too heavy, the birds will spread out into the sheet water. Also, a deep freeze could cover the marshes with ice, chasing the birds south. Nebeker reports that once the northern ducks move on, they rarely come back during the season.

TO THE NORTH, Washington hunters have enjoyed good action on the refuges and wildlife areas in the Vancouver area.

The Shillapoo Wildlife Area includes three units: the Vancouver Lake Unit along the south end of lake, and the North and South Units. The area gives up ducks and some dark geese, while Vancouver Lake itself offers some opportunity for both too.

The Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge is off to a good season, and just like Sauvie, hunters there have racked up some four-birds-per-hunter days too. The best blinds for ducks have been numbers 5 and 17.

The late-season hunt for dark geese on the refuge should be good, and the best blind for geese is number 15.

However, some hunters are complaining that the geese are not moving into the wildlife area as much as they have in the past. Remember, you must have a permit, drawn by lottery each morning, to hunt the refuge.

And check the regulations before you hunt any of these areas – most are open on select days only. Also, all goose hunters must have a Northwest Goose Permit to hunt dark geese west of Interstate I-5.

Local late-season hunting can be excellent, some of the best of the season – that is, if Mother Nature cooperates. If she does, hunters who stick with it can get in on some hot action in the cold weather.

For more info, contact the Sauvie Island WA at (503) 621-3488, the Ridgefield NWR at (360) 887-4106, and the WDFW Region 5 office (360-6966211) for info on Shillapoo. NS

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COLUMN Early last month, Washington wildlife biologists were encouraged by the number of mallards in the western Columbia Basin so far this season. Of the 268,000 ducks gathered in three important counties, nearly four-fifths were greenheads, followed by 30,000 scaup. (HANFORDLEARNING.ORG)

How To Play Basin’s Late Waterfowl Ops A

s has been detailed in Northwest Sportsman and in the Northwest’s marshes, fields, and estuaries this season, THE LONG HAUL the first month of

By Jeff Holmes 2015 should be a continuation of 2014’s excellent duck and goose hunting in the southern Columbia Basin. Bitter cold that drove birds south early in November made for fast limits of mallards, with wigeon, pintail, gadwall and other duck species mixed in. Similarly, goose hunting was excellent. Melting and refreezing of small waters changed birds’ patterns, and hunters who scored limits adapted

The Long Haul, celebrating people-powered hunting and fishing opportunities and quality of life in the Northwest outdoors. locations and techniques based on conditions. Most anyone’s guess is as good as the next’s when it comes to what birds will be doing in January, but a reliable meteorologist is likely the best source of information.

Perhaps no type of hunting is more weather dependent than waterfowling, and no month is more likely to ice up the Basin than January. That said, many

Januaries are mild, availing small-water options. When those small waters ice up, however, birds must move to the big water of the Columbia and Snake and other smaller, moving waters that don’t freeze. Hunters must prepare to adapt tactics to put birds in the bag, but for newcomers to the pursuit of ducks and geese, this can be frustrating. A newly dialed-in, proven pattern can become ineffective when a weather change shifts birds’ patterns. For example, the often productive shallow-water ponds spaced throughout the Basin don’t hold a lot of birds when they’re frozen, and corn fields full of gobbling mallards can empty as fast as ice can form on their nearby small waters, concentrating them on different food sources closer to

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As this screen grab from WDFW’s GoHunt mapping feature shows, the southern Columbia Basin, the heart of Eastern Washington’s waterfowl country, is stippled with all kinds of access, from state and federal wildlife areas and refuges to private lands open through various agreements. (WDFW) open water.

There are a lot of different waterfowl behavior scenarios to account for based on what Mother Nature blows at us, but in general, a beginning waterfowler can divide mentally between iced-up and open-water conditions. This January will offer excellent hunting for those in the know, but newcomers to the sport would be wise to consider options that will put them on birds, including these:

HIKE-IN SET-UPS The lower Columbia Basin is jam-packed with walk-in waterfowl opportunities, most of which are findable on the Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife’s GoHunt site (apps. wdfw.wa.gov/gohunt/). Others are managed by the Army Corps of Engineers (look for the “Mission” link at nww.usace. army.mil/). When stillwaters are not locked up by ice, there are exponentially more hike-in opportunities available in the Basin, including lots of hard-bottomed, shallow ponds, as well as deeper waters requiring a dog. Hunters with some energy and decent mobility can avoid 90 percent of the competition by packing a very small set of decoys into off-the-beaten-path waters near reliable food sources where birds are working.

Elaborate blinds aren’t necessary, and often I just hide under a Russian olive tree or in some brush, or I’ll make a makeshift blind where landowners allow.

At two especially popular public properties north of Pasco where it is not legal to construct permanent blinds, I’ve enjoyed hike-in shooting that defied my wildest expectations prior to those hunts. Competition can be fierce at these properties, but it’s easy to avoid the crowds by walking away from them.

Tossing a small spread of two to eight decoys in a backpack with a set of waders is a recipe for do-it-yourself adventures on public lands with open water that are close to farm crops, especially corn. Those properties north of Tri-Cities that I favor – but dare not name – do not hunt well when cold ices up 82 Northwest Sportsman

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COLUMN stillwater ponds; however, both feature irrigation wasteways that never freeze and that hold birds even during arctic blasts.

The same can be said for other small, moving waters in the Basin – they hold birds – but the majority of waterfowl evacuate for big, unfrozen waters, utilizing new food sources closer to resting and drinking waters. Hike-in options become necessarily limited to moving water when Januaries are icy cold, but during mild winters the Basin is an untapped gem that sparkles with standing water and hundreds of thousands of ducks and tens of thousands of geese.

BOATS ON THE BIG WATERS Using a boat is a great strategy during almost all huntable conditions, but boats shine especially during bitter cold snaps that lock up most of the water in the Basin. Wait, why do boats shine when there’s less open water? Because

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A point of land on a pond and a nearby overhanging tree make for a good location to build a blind and throw out a few decoys in hopes of bringing in Columbia Basin quackers. (HANFORDLEARNING.ORG) when birds flock to the big waters, just a Lab or just a pair of waders don’t cut it. It helps to have a boat. You’ll see duck hunters on the Snake and Columbia

utilizing craft ranging from large jet sleds to jonboats.

But be aware that there are some wind and wave conditions when

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COLUMN literally no one should be on the water, and many conditions when a jonboat, cartopper, or other tiny craft is a bad idea. Sudden wind, cold water, and other boaters are the biggest dangers, as are transom-ripping depth changes exacerbated by dropping flows from dam releases. A sufficiently powered boat of at least 14 feet with a deep V and a high transom is a wise minimum choice for the big waters. The Columbia and Snake Rivers should be respected and feared above all others in the Basin, but they hold the vast majority of the birds when stillwaters ice up. Literally everywhere from the Wanapum Pool to the Hanford Reach to the McNary National Wildlife Refuge to Paterson holds reliable numbers of both ducks and geese.

The Lower Snake and the adjoining Corps of Engineers mitigation properties are some of the most underutilized public hunting lands in Washington.

The waterfowling can be incredible

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A 2-mile hike along the Winchester Wasteway led to David Yamamoto’s first duck, a drake ringneck. A gander at WDFW’s GoHunt map will reveal more remote options others may not be willing to hit. (BRIAN LULL)

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COLUMN when frozen temps force birds to the big water, also requiring them to feed extra for needed calories. Ducks and geese drop in and out of the steep canyon from fields back to water. On days when the waterfowl aren’t moving, the Snake is Washington’s premier upland-waterfowl combo hunt.

The Columbia, however, is the more reliable waterfowl producer, even in TriCities, which is the densest population point in the southern Basin and home to a disproportionately large number of waterfowlers. Even with plenty of pressure, there are simply huge numbers of wintering birds on the Mid-Columbia. Boats are essential during iced-up conditions for accessing concentrated flocks of birds in places like Paterson, Plymouth, Wallula, Hover, Finley, Burbank, the Hanford Reach, and anywhere else hunters can launch boats on the Columbia to get to set-up spots up and down the river.

KAYAKS, PONTOONS FOR SMALL WATERS People have been using small, personal

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watercraft like tiny jonboats, canoes, and kayaks for as long as folks have been waterfowling, but I’ve always avoided tiny, tippy craft in winter in favor of a proper boat. That recently changed when I found a small cartopper I trust. One of the reasons I got a Nucanoe Frontier Kayak this past summer was anticipation of winter waterfowl season and my desire to have a portable craft that will allow me shallow-water access just about anywhere I want to go during openwater conditions. The thought of a kayak was originally not something I would have previously considered a good idea during the icy temperatures and cold water of winter, until I test paddled the Bellingham-based company’s ’yak. Along with a 600-pound weight capacity and a platform so stable that one can stand and fish or use the platform as a paddleboard, the Frontier has enough space for most of my gear I take in my motor boat: 11 goose floaters and 30 mallard floaters, blind material, gun, and my pack. I also take a

drybag with a zero-degree bag and firestarting materials, a precaution I also take in my motorboat. If you go in the water in January and can’t get warm immediately, hypothermia is a certainty.

NuCanoe makes two models of blinds that slip over the Frontier, and they work great, but I either drag mine out of the way and cover it with grass or camo netting, or I utilize the kayak’s comfortable seat and hunt out of the boat, cloaking it in camo and natural materials. I wouldn’t dare attempt this in a typical, tippy kayak. The Frontier is its own beast, kind of like the Hummer of the kayak world. I hesitate to call it a sport-utility kayak, mostly because its acronym is SUK, but I continue to be impressed by the versatility and stability of this craft. Fishing pontoons are also an overlooked option for waterfowlers, especially those without other craft and with small vehicles. Often just a short paddle or electric-motor ride avails huntable areas inaccessible to those without floating craft. NS

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Hunting The Frozen Tundra Of Lynden Fields The Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife’s private-lands hunting program pages highlight various opportunities across the state, including along the Nooksack River near Lynden and Ferndale. (WDFW)

A frigid Fraser River nor’easter is tough to surmount for waterfowlers, but there are ways to beat the conditions. (WSDOT)

NORTH SOUND

By Doug Huddle

W

aterfowling in January is a little like a football game in the fourth quarter.

Either you’ve made hay in the first three months, bagging enough ducks and or geese to put you well ahead in filling your larder, or you’re scrambling for lastminute, rapid-fire scores that will pull out a successful season.

If you’re behind in the final 25 days, it seems as if things conspire against you.

The opposition knows your formations, sometimes you can’t even get into the red zone and the clock’s tick only gets louder.

Many among the web-footed quarry, whether they be honkers, snows, dabblers or divers, with their keen eyes have gotten decoy- or even blind-wary. Hunters of snow geese on the Skagit tide flats in the 1950s and ’60s say older white birds in big flocks on their late-season morning flights were seen to swerve off lines over drift wood or stumps they’d learned concealed threats.

Resident honker clans, as well, seem to have lingering memories of fields from which they’ve recently taken fire.

Also by the last month of the season, irritated owners of some of the best goose or duck digs are giving good hunters the cold shoulder over sins of the misbehavers.

Those impediments can usually be overcome by honing your spread setting, hide enhancing and diplomatic skills.

BUT THE CONDITION that’s the hardest for bird hunters to surmount is a nor’eastercaused freeze and its after-effects. It can occur anytime from November to the end of February, and depending on duration, can lock up both waterfowl food and water for several weeks.

In January, with their shoes nailed to the floor by job and other obligations so they

can’t outrun the cold, some hunters ruefully call these windstorms season-enders.

These often are bare-naked ice-ups (the snow falls along the front to the south, usually stopping Seattle in its tracks). The former condition does buy additional time before total duck exodus in that there remains in fields visible residual crop tidbits frustrated webbed-foots will see and try to pry out.

Regardless of local moisture levels, a frigid Fraser Valley express quickly sweeps to the south most larger feathered animals from Whatcom and even western Skagit Counties. The cold-stunned birds’ first stop is the nearest leeward bay-front, and when there’s no let up for feeding, their second destination can be the Lower Columbia.

Those that stay are bereft of virtually all open-water refuges, except the saltwater, largest reservoirs and fastest rivers, though even those form skims of ice after a week of single-digit or teen temperatures and the relentless wind.

Sometimes the blizzard line stops here.

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COLUMN In the worst of these winter storms, winds can whip up snow drifts 15 to 20 feet high around trees or buildings around Lynden and Sumas. Under such conditions, it’s possible to get trapped even on public highways. Strategically placed strips of “drift intercept fencing” in fields adjacent roads are put up throughout the northern county.

Be forewarned, the two derivations of this weather pattern are the least productive for waterfowl and shape up in a specific way.

Ducks are the first to flee the icy fangs of a harsh Whatcom County nor’easter.

Resident honkers often jump to bay fronts to join rafts of divers, and swans are ordinarily the last to depart, heading just far enough south (usually to Snohomish, King and Pierce Counties) to find familiar-looking farmed acreage.

Besides wind-chill and temperature, the key forecast words for which to listen are “arctic outflow” or “easterly winds.”

Driven by continental polar highpressure areas 1,500 miles to the northeast over the Canadian Shield these domes of

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frigid Arctic air build up and spill through Rocky Mountain and Cascade passes and rush down Pacific Coast river valleys like a band of charging muskoxen.

A moistureless nor’easter saps warmth from every water source, including groundwater-fed ditches that freeze 6 inches thick in the blink of an eye. If frigid conditions persist beyond several days and river flow drops, its water temperature too will dip below freezing, encouraging anchor or bottom ice to form on the rocky bottoms.

Areas of the river with lower velocities or still water, the micro-reaches to which distressed ducks flee, will surface freeze.

WHEN A FREEZE-UP occurs rapidly, places to seek hardy ducks, at least for the first 24 to 48 hours, are along the north side of Bellingham Bay in the calm lee waters under its glacial bluffs. There is not a lot of good access here and the Lummi Nation boundary (treaty rock) takes in much of the sheltered river delta.

Wind-sheltered river margins along

north levee banks on the main Nooksack also afford birds some relief for brief periods.

Until the frigid air sucks up even their heat, several lowland streams including Kamm Creek, Morman Ditch, Scott Ditch and Cougar Creek, fed by percolating water welling out of the ground at around 42 to 48 degrees, serve as last refuges for stubborn, ice-flouting birds.

Their water collects and flows some distance in incised natural and straightened watercourses before icing over, offering parachute-in refuges for dabblers. These artesian-sourced courses have more to offer ducks than just open water – they grow aquatic plants and insects that ducks readily eat too.

Provided you’re effectively bundled, a jump-shooting walk with a gunning partner along either side of these brushlined watercourses will yield a few lastchance ducks. Don’t walk even with one another, but take turns, one walking ahead of the other, to force jumps into the field of fire of the other. It’s a hunt under rigorous

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COLUMN conditions that’s likely to live on in your personal hunting annals.

A similar slower-to-freeze scenario with an added twist exists is another Whatcom

County locale on the lower North Fork Nooksack River downstream of Kendall.

While tributary surface flow here freezes solid, springwater along the margin of the

LAST-GASP STEELHEADING Northwest Washington winter river anglers have differing degrees of uncertainty with which to deal in the aftermath of the settlement of the federal lawsuit brought by the Wild Fish Conservancy against WDFW. Ultimately, hatchery steelhead programs could go by the board on all Puget Sound systems.

Pivotal decisions on their long-term fate may actually be closer to a reckoning on some rivers, such as the Nooksack, and much further off in the future in watersheds such as the Skagit.

Release of cultured steelhead smolts is going ahead in the Skykomish system for at least one more year while 201213 steelhead broods in production for subsequently canceled releases were and are being put to good use in trout stocking efforts in lakes from which they can’t escape.

Also, the department has submitted to NOAA-Fisheries for review key documents needed by the federal agency for consideration of applications for the issuance of necessary ESA Section 10 permits that would sanction or allow state hatchery steelhead programs.

One thing for sure is that a typical return of cultured fish is expected this season, so fisheries aren’t likely to change a great deal. Management efforts will aim at catching as many of the returning clipped fish as possible. That will change two years hence.

IN THE NOOKSACK, for now it’s business largely as usual insofar as hatchery steelhead broodstock needs are concerned at Kendall Creek Hatchery on the North Fork, at least until the NOAAFisheries decision on the Nooksack program’s permit comes back.

The facility will go ahead with collection for spawning of hatcheryorigin adults returning to the trap until the end of January. Egg-take and hatching of the 2014-15 brood will be done on the 96 Northwest Sportsman

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Though hatchery production is going on hold for a dozen years, the clearwater stretch of the Skagit will still be a good bet for winter-runs heading to the Cascade River this month.

(RIVER CHROME GUIDE SERVICE)

assumption that timely, legal authority will be forthcoming to complete raising and releasing them.

This is a proactive effort to reduce to a minimum the impact of the settlement of the WFC lawsuit on hatchery steelhead returns in the immediate future.

If the federal permit comes through, as it should, it would mean that for the Nooksack just one year’s smolt release would have been missed. Since each year’s run of hatchery steelhead has two different ages of adults there should be at least some cultured fish in each year for the next few years.

This winter there should be a typical compliment of winter-runs, and by January the majority that survived net and sport fisheries downstream should be in the North Fork. There could be more than usual too, thanks to WDFW’s midDecember closure of the entire system (as well as Whatcom Creek) to collect broodstock, and reduced tribal netting.

Assuming the agency reopens the Nooksack after eggtake goals are met, the clearest water in January tends to be the North Fork, so head east of Deming.

The key access is at the aforementioned Mosquito Lake Road bridge, but anglers can get to the open reach either via Deming Homestead Eagle Park off Truck Road, at Racehorse Creek mouth off the North Fork Road, though anglers

wooded river floodway fills side channels that are dammed by beavers. Often, as waters harden, there still is limited open water at a pond’s upper end narrows that will have to walk in from the end of the county road. Easy walk-ins off the Mount Baker Highway are at the Washington State Department of Transportation’s property north of Welcome and the state hatchery itself.

Over its length the North Fork’s open reach is largely riffle water with few deep pools. However, smaller, shallower steelie-holding pockets liberally scattered throughout merit several casts each.

The “first in, fish close” reminder applies here too, meaning that if you are the initial angler arriving at daybreak, don’t wade into “soft” water (close to shore in the margins at the head of pools) as well as pool tailouts without first carefully approaching and drifting them.

Steelhead often lay up under cover of darkness in these unlikely shallow lies and are inevitably flushed by unknowing fishers who blunder in.

ON THE SKAGIT, unfortunately, the die is cast regarding hatchery steelhead in the foreseeable future. Under terms of the settlement, the hatchery steelhead program is to cease for at least 12 years while long-term studies assess the confirmed hatchery fish impacts to the wild population.

To resume steelhead production, the department also must find a genetically acceptable alternative stock to propagate, prepare a genetic management plan and apply for and receive a Section 10 permit.

With the program officially under a moratorium, no spawning will be done this fall and winter at Marblemount.

Recruiting adult fish will be killed.

Boat-borne fishers will get the nod the latest into the New Year (mid-February) in the Rockport-to-Marblemount reach.

However, anglers on foot should note that the numerous walk-in spots to some beautiful holes are exploitable for hatchery steelies in the waters from the Cascade Road bridge upstream to Gorge Powerhouse until the end of January.

The Cascade River itself is open for three hatchery steelhead a day.–DH

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ACCESS TO MANY of the kind of locales huntable during a hard freeze is problematic since many of the habitat types are found on private lands. But besides its strategically located wildlife areas, the Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife’s North Sound private lands access program aid duck and goose hunters in their search for late-season opportunities.

During cool, wet nonfreezing periods, WDFW’s Lake Terrell, Alcoa/Intalco and Tennant Lake units of the Whatcom Wildlife Area provide ready entrée to developed blinds and night-time roosts in upland locales.

Early during hard freezes in Skagit County, as ducks move seaward, the Headquarters (Fir Island) and West 90 (Samish Flats) units provide a one-two access combination to lucrative bayfront sites, with the boat-in option to the broader Skagit River delta and the overland walk-in opportunity to the seadike on east Padilla Bay. Waterfowl gunners can also look to a growing list of private land sites secured for public hunting in both counties under the aegis of the department’s Private Lands Access initiative.

In its Waterfowl Quality Hunt Program for North Puget Sound, negotiating with landowners, WDFW has assembled private land parcel listings in three different categories: feel free to hunt (FFTH), register to hunt (RTH) and hunt by reservation (HTR).

The Snow Goose Quality Hunt program access plots have been blended into main WQHP system. Unlike Eastside options, currently there are no plots requiring prior written permission to enter here.

Before heading out it’s best to brief yourself on a site’s specific use rules. Party sizes are always restricted, as is parking. In many, blinds have been built and hunters must use only them. On some hunters may position themselves anywhere inside the

bounds of the site. Also, hunters must park and enter each plot only at its designated location.

FFTH plots are simplest to secure and use. As their name implies, just go to one of the sites and if the parking space(s) is vacant, pull in and enter to hunt.

On RTH sites, gunners must park in the designated area then sign in and out at the on-site registry station.

The Hunt By Reservation sites may only be used by hunters who go online to http:// wdfw.wa.gov/hunting/hunting_access/ private_lands/type/56/ ahead of their visit and secure their use on specific available dates.

In the Whatcom County lowlands, there are 18 FFTH and four RTH sites from the Sumas/Nooksack area southwest to south of Ferndale outside the Lummi Nation. All of these private plots work especially well if sheetwater is present on cultivated acreage.

The southern ones around Ferndale are better in the late season and/or at the start of a big freeze.

In western Skagit County there are 19 FFTH, four RTH and 11 HBR sites on farmed fields from the Edison area south to Conway. Several under the shortest flight-line between Padilla and Samish Bays near Swinomish Slough provide excellent opportunities when birds are forced south in cold weather during later hunts. There are also several sneaky-good, wet-weather sites north of Burlington located near a Thomas Creek wetland that’s managed as if it is a reserve.

Look to the Thomle Road quality waterfowling sites in neighboring northwest Snohomish County south of Stanwood for some of the best snow goose hunt plots.

Also on Florence Island, consider buying an inexpensive permit at the Lervick Farm on Bow Road for the Twin City Foods lands.

NEXT ISSUE Blackmouth “inside” fishing, season close-out hunts, winter lakes for trout, and lower Skagit trout. NS Editor’s note: Doug Huddle lives in Bellingham, is retired from the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife and has written about hunting and fishing in the Northwest for more than 30 years.

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couple of weeks ago.

This engine is a complete rededication to the innovation Evinrude brings to the two-stroke outboard market. The Evinrude E-TEC G2 outboard engine delivers unrivaled performance with best-in-class torque and fuel efficiency and lowest total emissions. The new E-TEC G2 engine offers the first and only customizable look, the only clean rigging and fully integrated digital controls. These innovations now allow consumers to choose the absolute perfect combination of boat and engine by selecting top and front panels, as well as accent colors that match your boat.

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Relearning The Nestucca Instead of racing from launch to takeout, slowing down can lead to new insights into the famed Oregon Coast steelhead river.

By Andy Schneider

T

hey’re not making any new rivers, so we’ve got to learn the ones we have. While you may have fished the Nestucca before, have you really taken a look at her brushy banks, those long and wide tailouts, her long running ribbons of holding water, all complemented by an iridescent glow of emerald-green water? If you really look long and hard at the Nestucca, you will see that she is everything that you could want in a steelhead river.

ABOUT THE RIVER AND ITS RUNS Winter season on the southern Tillamook County river, located a few turns of Highway 101 south of its much more traveled country cousins, starts when fall Chinook begin to leave your steelhead plugs alone, usually late December, and easily lasts through the end of April. The Nestucca supports a strong run of native steelhead that have been utilized in a broodstock hatchery program that gives anglers an opportunity to harvest big, aggressive and hard-fighting clipped fish. The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife depends on Nestucca anglers to catch wild steelhead and safely transport them to a holding pond at the Cedar Creek Hatchery.

There, the nates are artificially spawned and released back to the river. The offspring have their adipose fin clipped (and maybe other fins to identify the specific hatchery and year of origin) and are released into the Nestucca. Those broodstock fish have created some Internet drama, but strangely, you won’t hear anglers complaining from their drift boats.

Slowing down your approach and taking another look at the Nestucca can lead to new insights into how to fish the Oregon Coast favorite for winter steelhead. (BUZZ RAMSEY)

TAKE IT SLOW You see “it” a lot on the North Coast rivers. It’s that look over the shoulder, then the frantic pull of the anchor rope as the drift boat races downriver trying to keep ahead of you. The Nestucca is not immune to the “got to have first water” syndrome. And

there is something to be said about it: The initial floater can have a very productive day. But it’s also very stressful to keep ahead of the boats.

The best cure is to simply take it a little slower on the river. Let those boats pass you, then row back up and run your plugs through again, or pull

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FISHING The author’s friend Tom VanderPlaat holds a nice Nestucca River winter-run. (ANDY SCHNEIDER)

over and drift fish while everyone side-drifts past.

Indeed, a good tactic that veteran Nestucca anglers practice is to make multiple passes through promising water, utilizing different techniques.

Make your first pass pulling plugs, your second side-drifting, or vice versa. Not only does this automatically put you into the “take it slow” mode, it really produces fish. Some long stretches of holding water make diehard side-drifters ache with a need to drift a small cluster of roe along its entire length, while other holes taunt those with strong forearms to try and slowly back-troll plugs through the green depths. But sometimes switching up tactics produces a result that will change how you look at a piece of water. While you may know for certain that the next stretch is best fished by side-drifting, maybe bobber-dogging a pegged bead will show that the Nestucca still has some lessons to teach.

Another tactic that produces fish, but gets consistently overlooked, is to fish pocket water. What is pocket water? It’s water that is 4, 6 or even 8 feet deep, has a boulder, volcanic rock ledge, snag or just some sort of structure that creates a smooth glide just behind it. Every one of 102 Northwest Sportsman

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these pockets will hold steelhead at different flows and river heights. But know that these pockets are always on the move. What was a sweet spot behind a small wing dam will be gone when the river drops another 500 cubic feet per second. It takes a methodical and slow approach to fish the Nestucca’s pocket water, definitely something you can’t do while looking over your shoulder for the next boat coming down the river.

Pocket water can be fished by many techniques, but two really make it easy: side-drifting and bobber-dogging a pegged bead.

Approach your pocket water slowly, get everyone ready to cast and aim for the seam of fast and slow water, just behind the piece of structure creating the pocket. Make sure you have enough slack after the cast to allow your baits or beads to swing into that fish-holding glide. Let the boat slide downriver, keeping the baits parallel to you. Pocket water usually doesn’t have long drifts and may require multiple passes through these hidden gems.

THE TWO BEST TACTICS Side-drifting has become such a popular technique that many anglers will do nothing but it on long

sections of river. While covering huge expanses should offer you greater odds of finding more fish, that may not be the case when every other angler on the water has the same plan. Wouldn’t it be nice to side-drift all day, catch multiple fish and only drift one-third of the river compared to other side-drifters on the water?

You can, but it’s going to take a little more effort on the oars. It goes back to take it slow; you’re going to have to make multiple passes through the runs. Luckily the Nestucca offers some pretty soft water next to most of its popular runs, so rowing back upriver usually isn’t anything more than a little time consuming.

When you get back to the top of your run, switch it up. Don’t just run the exact same Corky and egg through the water again. Try using a totally different egg cure, a yarnie, a rubber worm or even a jig. There is nothing wrong with a drift bobber and bait.

In fact, it may be the most effective set-up, day in and day out, season to season, for winter steelhead. But with just about every angler knowing this, presenting something different may produce results above and beyond what the status quo can do.

Pulling plugs is decreasing in popularity every season on the Nestucca as more and more anglers take up side-drifting. It’s not that it’s any less effective than drifting baits; it’s that anglers are feeling pressured to keep pace down the river with every other boat. Don’t let the pressure get to you; deploy plugs and giggle in delight when a rod folds over and a chrome-bright steelhead rockets out of the water, plug in its mouth.

Tadpollies, K11Xs and Mag Lip 3.5s are some of the easiest plugs to use and just happen to work wonders on Nestucca steelhead. Green pirate (green and red metallic), blue pirate (blue and red metallic), Wonder Bread (white with multi-colored spots) and red metallic are top producers here. While some anglers have good luck adding scent, many prefer just

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FISHING

RIVER PROFILE: THE WILSON The lower Wilson, where Brenda Skinner caught this steelhead, has five boat ramps spread out over 6 miles, providing superb access to quality water. (ANDY SCHNEIDER)

Optimal height: 1,400 to 1,200 cubic feet per second Most productive drift: Mills Bridge to Sollie Smith Target species: Native and broodstock steelhead With 28 miles of its 33-mile length accessible to fishing, the Wilson provides one of the best opportunities for winter steelhead from mid-December through April. Five boat ramps and 25 miles of access along Highway 6 give anglers plenty of room to explore and pursue their techniques of choice.

As for predicting winter steelhead returns to coastal tributaries, that is a challenge that state biologists won’t even entertain. However, there is a theory that the runs mirror coho. And with large numbers of the salmon back to Nehalem, Tillamook and Nestucca Bays this past fall, many winter steelhead anglers are hoping for a large and productive run this season.

When you bank fish the Wilson above Mills Bridge, pack a drift-fishing rod and a float-fishing rod, and be prepared to cover some water. While there are some holes that are productive all day, if you 104 Northwest Sportsman

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cover more water your chances for results will be better. A good rule of thumb is to spend 20 minutes at each hole before you move on. Often, most of your bites will come within the first couple of casts.

As you move to the upper sections of the Wilson, winter steelhead will start to spread out and you may have to hit multiple holes before finding fish. When the lower sections of the Wilson are high and off-colored, the upper river will still be in shape and fishing will be good.

The numerous ramps along the lower 6 miles of river give good access to anglers wanting to make short or long drifts. The most popular float is from Mills Bridge to Sollie Smith. This is probably one of the most productive drifts on the entire North Coast, offering lots of different water and opportunities to pursue your technique of choice.

Try pulling plugs, drift fishing, or sidedrifting a bobber and jig, bobber and bait or bobber and bead. The average float takes six hours.

If you only have a couple hours to make a drift, float from Mills Bridge to Donaldson’s or from Donaldson’s to Sollie Smith. –AS

a freshly cleaned plug. Washing the plug, duo-lock and leader of all foreign scents ensures that the plug is not going to shy a steelhead away.

Deploying plugs has gotten incredibly easy with the availability of line-counter reels. Simply run all your set-ups out the same distance on the reel, put the rod in the holder and slowly work your way downriver.

When a rod does get bit, don’t pull it out of the holder till the fish has the rod fully loaded up and line is peeling off the reel. Steelhead, being ever so crafty, have a tendency to do crazy things once they pick up a plug.

Sometimes they’ll instantly turn downriver, but most of the time they can’t be predicted on what they will do. To have a high hook-up-to-land ratio, wait till the steelhead commits to the plug before even touching the rod.

As for how fast to back-troll downstream, take into account the Nestucca motto: take it slow. Many experienced plug fishermen believe you can’t go slow enough on a river.

The longer you taunt a steelhead with a plug in front of their nose, the more likely they will be to attack it.

COMING ON STRONG: BOBBER AND BEAD In recent years bead fishing for steelhead has taken off like no other technique since side-drifting became so popular. One of the biggest advantages of bead fishing is that it doesn’t require a huge change in tactics. If other anglers want to sidedrift while you drift a bead, it can be easily done in the same drift.

Bead fishing is still in its infancy stage and tackle hasn’t quite caught up to the craze, so many anglers are improvising to effectively fish beads, from cutting bobbers in half to using jewelry-making supplies (which is going through its own beading craze, but that’s another story).

The effectiveness of beads comes from a theory that, thanks to millions of years of instinct and evolution, a salmonid knows that an orangish ball floating downriver is loaded

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with proteins that help survival. It’s also competition for the fish’s own offspring and needs to be eliminated.

Whether all that has any truth or not is tough to say, but it’s hard to deny that beads produce results.

Most popular bead sizes are 10-, 12- and 14mm. Rigging one starts with a ¼- to ½-ounce fixed or sliding bobber. Use the former type for shallower waters, the latter for deeper. With a wooden toothpick or a rubber band, fix your bead 2 inches above a No. 4 hook. On a fixed bobber, clip on two small split shot on your leader, evenly spaced from the bobber to your bead. When using a sliding bobber, clip one split shot 12 inches above your bead and the second at 24 inches. Adjust your bobber stop so your bead is just barely touching bottom, but not overly dragging where it could snag.

The most important part of fishing a bead is to give it a natural presentation. Fishing a bead under a bobber is more forgiving than with a jig. A bead can outrun your bobber or be slowly dragging it, all without

hindering the natural presentation of the bead. Be prepared to see or feel the fish grab your bead before you even see your bobber twitch. When you see a fish flash just below your bobber, reel until you feel the tension on the fish before setting the hook – usually easier said than done. If you don’t get the belly out of your line before setting the hook, you may end up missing the fish altogether.

K.I.S.S. RIGGINGS Side-drifters can obviously be identified a long way away – rods on the same side of the boat, tips at eye level and oars gently feathering the water. But they can also be identified by their bright green mono mainline.

There is a theory floating around that high-vis line, though 40 inches away from the bait, is still spooking fish.

While the bright line makes it easy for guides to see where their clients are fishing, for your average angler, it’s not really needed.

Start with your choice of 10- to 12-pound mono mainline tied to a snap swivel and add a 36- to 40-inch

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leader of 8- to 10-pound fluorocarbon leader (tying both leader and mainline to the ‘barrel’ part of the snap swivel). Only use a single No. 2 hook when fishing the Nestucca; the amount of woody debris in the river makes fishing double hooks all but impossible. Use a quarter-sized bait with a styrofoam puff ball slid up the shank of the hook. Three-, four- or five-shot (.25-ounce) slinkies attached to the snap part of the swivel is all that’s needed to keep your baits tapping bottom every 12 to 16 inches.

With plugs, either run 15-pound mono mainline directly to the plug with a duolock snap or 50-pound braid to 12 feet of 20-pound fluorocarbon leader. Tie your leader to your mainline with an Albright knot. Using a long leader of 20-pound test will cut down on annoying rod-tip wrap from braided line on deployment. The Albright knot and lack of a barrel swivel will allow you to reel your plugs right to the tip

RIVER PROFILE: THE TRASK Optimal height: 1,400 to 900 cfs Most productive drift: Loren’s Drift to Highway 101 Target species: Native steelhead This often-overlooked steelhead river gets its fair share of native winter-runs, but it also gets a surprising number of stray hatchery steelhead. When other coastal tributaries get crowded, take a drift down the Trask and appreciate the fun of catching and releasing steelhead.

The lower section doesn’t offer a lot of bank access, but try just downriver of Cedar Creek. Here, Trask River Road follows the river closely, offering lots of places to pull over and pursue feisty natives.

There are only a couple ramps on the Trask to launch a drift boat: Cedar Creek and Loren’s Drift. Cedar Creek is a slide ramp right along the aforementioned road. It has some mildly technical water to navigate. Loren’s Drift offers an easy drift, with lots of easy-to-read water to fish different techniques.

The first part of Loren’s offers long shallow drifts perfect for side-drifting,

bobber dogging or bead fishing. Once you drift below the Long Prairie Road bridge, the gradient shallows and holes get deeper. This section is ideal for pulling plugs. Run a K11X or a MagLip 3.5 through these deeper holes, recently vacated by fall Chinook. Often large schools of native steelhead will stack in them. As many times as you can, row back to the top of a hole for another good chance at the fish.

Make sure to bring your waders. This will allow you to hop out of the boat and handle and release a native steelhead much more easily – for you and the fish.

If you do bring a net and have to use it, make sure you use a “release” net. You can find these for $30 at pretty much all sporting goods stores. If you really love your long-handled salmon net, look into buying a new “release” replacement bag, at a fraction of the cost of a new net.

Sometimes there is just no way around netting a native in order to release it safely.

Make sure to keep the fish in the water and have pliers handy to make the release as quick as possible. –AS

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GETTING ON THE WATER Most Nestucca anglers would agree that 5.5 feet, roughly 1,200 cfs, is the perfect flow height. But when the river is on the drop, it starts to come into shape around 1,600 cfs and will fish well all the way down to 800 cfs.

The highest boat ramp (for your weekend angler) is Fourth Bridge, but beware there is some technical water below it that becomes even more challenging in flows below 1,000 cfs.

First Bridge ramp, in the town of Beaver, puts drift boaters below that and right into classic steelhead water.

The most popular drift is Farmer Creek to Three Rivers, which usually takes five or six hours. While drifting from Three Rivers to Cloverdale is popular for salmon, it isn’t so much for steelhead. But the river’s lowest drift can be floated even at 500 cfs, and may be the only option in low water.

From the bank, the mouth of

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RIVER PROFILE: TILLAMOOK’S OTHER RIVERS The Nestucca as well as Wilson and Trask Rivers are just a sampling of Tillamook County’s winter steelhead rivers. Any and every river, creek, stream or slough will have a run venturing into their hidden waters.

While it’s up to you to get out and explore, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife has lent a hand, highlighting some of the other opportunities in the agency’s annual fishing guide.

Along with the Wilson and Nestucca, the Kilchis River also sees releases of fin-clipped hatchery steelhead, around 40,000 earlyreturning smolts annually at Kilchis

Park. It also features wild winter-runs, which return later in the season.

Should late fall’s storms continue into winter, ODFW notes that the Little North Fork Wilson and first mile of the South Fork Wilson, open through the end of March, can offer good action for fish sheltering in their less turbid waters.

The Tillamook and Miami Rivers have some wild fish, but access is much better on the latter than the former, which is dominated by private property.

Further afield and straying from Tillamook County proper, check out the Salmon, Siletz and its tributary, Drift Creek, Necanicum, mainstem Nehalem, Salmonberry and Three Rivers.–NWS

Three Rivers is popular for broodstock fish, but to get into some great native steelhead territory, a drive above Beaver, or even Blaine, along Nestucca River Road is in order. Look for pull-offs and promising-looking water from the road.

The Northwest may see no new rivers created in our lifetime, but by not looking at the Nestucca over your shoulder and taking it a little slower down the river, gradually it may teach some things and old can become new again. NS

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Sled Ed

Jet sleds long ago revolutionized river fishing in the Northwest, but for those who are just purchasing one this show season, running the streams isn’t as easy as the author makes it look here. (ANDY SCHNEIDER)

New to jet boating, or haven’t been out in a while? Considerations to make before your next trip.

By Andy Schneider

T

rying to keep your eyes open and brain alert at 30 mph in 30-degree temperatures is not the easiest task to accomplish, but to safely run the shallow waters of metro tributaries, it’s a must.

The Skykomish, Clackamas, Sandy, North Fork Lewis and Cowlitz Rivers are some of the premier steelhead rivers that sled owners flock to every winter. They know that jet boating opens up a lot of angling opportunities – you can make multiple passes through productive waters; hold against strong current; explore runs upstream from boat ramps; and save money on shuttles.

Plus, sometimes it’s just plain fun to blast around the rivers.

But it’s not always as easy as it looks. As we head into the heart of winter steelheading season and with springers soon after, here’s a refresher.

RIVER FLOWS The most consistent thing in winter is that water levels are always fluctuating. Freshets, snow levels, Pineapple Expresses and power needs all affect how high your local river is running. More water gives boaters the freedom to run rivers without too much worry about bumping bottom, as the extra height offers lots of forgiveness in the shallows.

But as rivers start to drop, fishing usually starts to improve, though sometimes navigating the river can become a little more of a challenge. It’s also not uncommon that, following a very high-water event, the river’s path could have changed, deposited woody or rocky debris in new places, or created an impassable logjam. If you’re the first on the water after a flood, you must proceed with caution.

As levels keep dropping, jet boat numbers thin out dramatically, as some rivers become completely impassable to most boats. Checking river levels should always be the first part of planning a fishing trip, and knowing what levels you feel comfortable running should determine if a jet sled run transitions to a drift boat float.

When running the rivers in your jet boat, make notes about the levels and flows. That way you will know what heights you can feel comfortable running, and when you should just get caught up on “honey do’s” instead.

If you don’t know what river levels you are comfortable with running, start by driving by the boat ramps and observing and talking to boaters pulling out. Seeing more drift boat trailers rather than sled trailers?

Probably a good indication that the river’s just a little too low for most boaters’ comfort.

READING THE RIVER Reading the river and learning how to navigate it in a jet sled is a perishable

skill that comes from actually doing it over and over. The safest way to learn how to run a river is to hire a guide.

Tell the guide that a major part of what you want to experience is how to run the river. Ask the guide if you can record the runs with your GoPro or smartphone, and have a buddy run the camera while you pay close attention to the route the guide takes.

If you can return to the same river the following day and run it again in your own boat, this will greatly help with setting the route to memory.

But a note on tact: While you may be tempted to just show up early at the boat ramp and follow a guide or other jet boater up- or downriver, this is one sure way to not make any friends.

This poor technique is very obvious to the boater being followed, and besides being rude, it’s pretty dangerous. The lead boater may stop unexpectedly, potentially causing a near collision, or put you on the rocks or sand as you try to avoid the other boater. If you are unsure about a section of water, asking someone is the proper way to do it. Just remember that down the road, as you become familiar with the river, share your knowledge with boaters looking for help.

Any jet boater will tell you that running upstream is much easier than running downriver. Not only is the river easier to read, you have the ability to move at a much slower rate, allowing better decision-making.

The best technique for learning

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FISHING or refamiliarizing yourself with a section of river is to launch at the lowest boat ramp and run upriver, paying close attention to your route.

Remember that downriver traffic and nonmotorized boats have the right of way. Listening and scouting a narrow section of river is always best before making your run upriver.

WHEN WHOOPS HAPPENS

There are three things a Northwest jet sledder should never be without while running the rivers: a large flathead screwdriver (for prying rocks out the jet shoe grate), a ½-inch wrench (to unbolt the shoe) and a spare jet shoe (for those really bad “I thought it was deeper than it really was” moments). (ANDY SCHNEIDER)

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With the exception of the Sandy, the bottom of which is, well, sandy, ¾-inch to 2-foot rocks make up the bed of most Northwest rivers, with lots of boulders and woody debris thrown in to keep things interesting. Run a jet boat in a tributary long enough and it’s not a matter of if you will hit bottom, it’s just a matter of when.

Running aground or bumping bottom usually doesn’t hurt anything but your ego – aluminum boats are pretty durable, and so are the components of a jet pump. Since running aground is always a possibility, wearing a PFD is a must.

A few other items that should always accompany you when running the shallows include a spare jet shoe, a large screwdriver and a ½-inch wrench. If you can’t pry all the gravel out of your shoe with the screwdriver, you can simply remove your shoe in the shallows with a ½-inch wrench and pound out the rocks and refasten your shoe, all in less than 10 minutes.

If you take a chunk out of your shoe on an unseen boulder, swapping it out for the spare will only take a few minutes, letting you finish your day of fishing.

If you find yourself midriver totally hung up on a gravel bar, moving your passengers from the back to the front of the bow will sometimes help refloat the boat. Still stuck? Try and turn your boat so it’s facing downriver. Utilizing your bow or anchor rope, deploy your sea socks off the bow to deeper water downriver. Now have your passengers play tug of war with the pull of the sea socks to help dislodge the boat.

Keeping your passengers onboard is almost always the safest way to go. NS

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NOTES Nobody knows the floatability factor of 12-pound main line Corkies in relation to various hook sizes better than Bobber Split shot Jarod Higginbotham, Yakima Bait’s assistant sales and marketing manager. When using a size 12 Corky with this rig, he likes to use a No. 1 Gamakatsu hook because it gives the hook slightly less than neutral buoyancy. “The idea behind using a Corky with neutral buoyancy is that it just rolls right over the rocks and doesn’t get wedged in there,” he says.

“And that’s where the fish lay.” Not only do you have Size 12 Corkies double the chances of catching a steelhead, but you also have twice the opportunity at catching other fish as well. “I have caught Chinook, spring Chinook, trout, whitefish, shad and summer and winter steelhead on this rig,” notes Higginbotham.

“Corkies catch coho every day, so there’s no doubt in my mind this rig would work for coho as well.

Rubber Nails “That’s why I call it ‘two-timing steelhead.’ You’re just doubling your chances at catching fish.” One key is to tie the leader as close to the head of the jig as possible so that the jig rides horizontally. If it’s vertical, it won’t fish right. Higginbotham says he gets most bites on red-colored hooks. Use this rig anywhere you would drift a float. –NWS Colored, shortened line used for illustration purposes. (ARCHIVE)

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FISHING

Big Changes On Big Elk Thi will This ill be b th the llastt season hhatchery t h steelhead t lh d return to the Central Coast stream, though wild fish retention will open in the future.

By R B Randall d ll B Bonner

TOLEDO, Ore.—Big Elk Creek, a tributary of the Yaquina River, is a bankie’s paradise. Its first 2 to 3 miles are tidally influenced, bringing in fresh chrome to nearly 20 miles of water that is not only accessible, but clearly visible from the road. Excluding a few short stretches of private property postings, there’s plenty of spots to crawl down the bank and wet a line up to the deadline near the tiny burg of Harlan. With several major Central Coast rivers drawing most of the winter fishing, this tributary is often overlooked, presenting a great opportunity to get away from crowds.

Anglers Andre Sampier and Russell Wright search along Harlan Road for a spot to fish Big Elk Creek. Much of the river flows parallel to the backroad, which connects Burnt Woods along Highway 20 with Toledo. (RANDALL BONNER)

JANUARY 2015

Northwest Sportsman

119

FISHING

(RANDALL BONNER)

Sportsman’s Association board meeting, that number had moved up to 80. As for those 20,000 smolts that were historically placed into Big Elk, they’re being converted from traditional hatchery broodstock to wild broodstock and placed in the Alsea River. As part of the CMP, the Alsea hatchery would produce 80,000 wild broodstock and 60,000 traditional broodstock. The ASA is actively seeking volunteers to provide line-caught wild steelhead not just for the broodstock program, but the Alsea Hatchery Research Center’s “Biter Study.” Spangler, an advocate for wild broodstock, explained that the program produces returning fish for harvest at a survival rate of three to one to traditional hatchery stock, and that “without strong wild stocks, our hatchery programs will decline.”

is no significant genetic difference between hatchery-raised salmonids and naturally raised salmonids.”

The commissioner went on to ask the crowd in attendance, “How many oppose this plan for the South Coast?” Nearly everyone in attendance raised their hands.

The information gathered on steelhead populations from spawning surveys calculate the fish per mile expanded by river miles of habitat.

For example, if a 1-mile survey has 10 redds, assuming there are two fish per redd, there are 20 fish for that mile. Expand that by 20 miles of steelhead habitat and you get a “fairly loose estimate” of 400 wild steelhead.

With segregated hatchery releases going by the wayside, when asked if there’s any possibility to provide a wild broodstock program on the Big Elk, Spangler said, “Anything is possible; the problem is resources, utilizing volunteers and developing trapping operations.”

He explains that the current number of required wild steelhead for the Alsea wild broodstock program is 70, although a week later during a discussion at an Alsea

SPORTFISHING CATCH STATS for Big Elk have historically shown good numbers, breaking the 1,000-fish mark twice in the early 1980s. In recent years, the number has since fallen to around a hundred, with 109 fish being recorded as caught in the 2011-2012 winter steelhead season. The harvest numbers of wild steelhead 35 years ago, prior to the development of the hatchery planting program, were roughly about the same, at 100 to 200 fish annually.

Without a consistent increase in harvest, it’s difficult to justify the cost of continuing the program.

Conservation was identified as a priority for Big Elk Creek, and that played a role in its hatchery program closing, but the system’s lackluster draw for anglers also made it a weak link in the chain of recreational fisheries along the mid-coast.

“The discontinuation of the (Big Elk Creek) winter steelhead program is a good call when looking at the broader coastal basins and where we have good boating/bank access that can provide a stronger economic benefit to coastal communities,” Spangler says.

However, as appealing as this may sound, there’s good reason this body of water draws less local traffic than its counterparts. The deadline for salmon on the Yaquina is at the confluence of Big Elk Creek, and special bait restrictions apply during the fall. Steelhead, on the other hand, are open year-round, although the Alsea Hatchery only plants 20,000 winter smolts into Big Elk a year – or at least it used to.

THE FINAL PLANTING of those fish was in the spring of 2013 for return this year. As part of the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Coastal Multi-Species Conservation and Management Plan, the fish release program that began in 1969 was eliminated due to a number of reasons, according to ODFW MidCoast district fisheries biologist John Spangler. In an effort to better understand why the program was cut as part of this plan, I visited his office in Newport.

Spangler says the status of the Alsea hatchery broodstock program is good. Anglers are happy, the fish return, but there is a lot of volunteer work that goes into collecting fish for the wild broodstock program.

There’s no information about wild populations on Big Elk Creek, and with only trap catches and survey information to go by, there are no hard numbers for the population of Alsea wild steelhead either. A cause for concern about wild and hatchery interaction on Big Elk Creek is due to the lack of a trap to collect the returning hatchery fish. However, in a South Coast district meeting held in Bandon for comment on the CMP, retired U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologist Dick Stroud said the plan was held on an unproven premise, stating that “I think the jury is out on this whole concept that hatchery fish are incompatible with wild fish.”

Coos County commissioner Bob Main agreed, saying that “There 120 Northwest Sportsman

JANUARY 2015

The author with a nice hatchery steelhead caught on Big Elk last season. He says January is the best month to fish the creek, but this will also be the last season that fin-clipped winter-runs return as releases have been discontinued. In future years, wild steelhead will be retainable, though it’s unclear how many actually enter the creek.

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Wild salmon provide an exciting bycatch on Big Elk Creek. Marc Vangorden holds a coho caught on a Blue Fox spinner from the middle section, and subsequently released. Coho aren’t open for retention on the stream, though the Yaquina River below Big Elk has featured a season in recent years. (RANDALL BONNER)

The out-of-basin stock being used in combination with the lack of trapping operations also allows

122 Northwest Sportsman

JANUARY 2015

for a high probability of hatchery strays and potential interaction with wild fish. A significant number of

hatchery smolts planted in the Big Elk tend to return to the Alsea. Creel checks in 2012 revealed that 96 Big Elk traditional hatchery broodstock strayed from where they were planted back to their river of origin in the Alsea. With roughly a hundred hatchery fish harvested from the Big Elk that season there’s almost an even split between the two waters.

It’s not just traditional broodstock that stray, either. Eighty fish from the Siuslaw River’s wild broodstock program strayed to the Alsea last year as well. However, those broodstock are spawned at the Munsel Creek facility in Florence, then transferred to Willamette hatchery near Oakridge. Once hatched, they are transferred to Roaring River hatchery, and once they hit smoltrelease size, they are trucked back to the Siuslaw. Needless to say, they are well traveled, much like the Big Elk’s traditional broodstock from Alsea Hatchery. Trucking fish from one river to another, only to have them return to their point of origin rather than where they were planted creates a costly program that was hardly supported by the number of anglers

FISHING fishing Big Elk in recent history.

As a compromise for the creek’s anglers losing the opportunity to harvest hatchery winter steelhead, the CMP offers new regulations that will allow retention of wild steelhead in Big Elk. This part of the plan has become another target for criticism.

In a CMP facilitator’s report published

by ODFW, some of the concerns with wild retention include the potential for illegal wild harvest from adjacent streams due to some of the areas already being difficult to monitor and enforce the fishery.

There’s also serious concerns about accurately quantifying sustained wild populations before opening them to harvest.

Spangler explains that the intention is to not only provide the opportunity to harvest a wild fish that may be mortally wounded, but to maintain a wild steelhead fishery.

“We want people to be able to take a wild fish in the right locations.

Historically, we used to harvest lots of wild fish. It will not impact their population with conservative and daily bag limits,” Spangler says.

He insists that the changes create

BIG ELK HOW-TOS January is typically the best time of year for returning hatchery steelhead on Big Elk Creek, although many of the wild fish tend to come back later.

The stream offers copious access, starting at Elk City Park campground at the confluence with the Yaquina and with bank access to tidewater. There’s also Big Elk Campground near the deadline of the Grant Creek bridge, with bank access within the campground.

The Grant Creek bridge is southwest of the campground on Hilltop Road.

For fish, the first major obstacle is a riffle and shelf spilling into slackwater between mile markers 4 and 5 on Harlan Road. Just be aware that there’s a farmer just down the road who has a very friendly border collie that likes to fetch your bobber. If you bring a friend,

a fishery that allows for a “cost effective” harvest program, but also says habitat restoration is another priority for Big Elk. “The more habitat we have, the more smolts can be produced,” says Spangler.

Using ESA-listed coho as an

one person can easily distract the float hound while the other wets a line.

Big Elk Creek is just that, a creek. The water narrows higher into the system, and presents unconventional obstacles.

Fish will hold near any shelf that stretches the width of the river. Some of these shelves will be downriver of long stretches of shallow water and drop at 90-degree angles into deep water.

Fish that are lower in the river will move quickly, pausing in deep holes midstream and holding near spawning habitat in the upper end.

There’s lots of bedrock, boulders and shallow-water riffles, making drift fishing difficult. While jigs and pink worms under a bobber may produce in deeper areas, single egg patterns and spinners tend to snag less.

Be aware and respectful of private property postings. –RB

example, he explains that we spend millions of dollars on habitat restoration for the species.

“If we always tell people they’ll never be able to take a wild fish again, will they care about them? It’s habitat we really need to focus on,” he says. NS

124 Northwest Sportsman

JANUARY 2015

www.nwsportsmanmag.com

TO SUBSCRIBE VISIT US ONLINE

The ‘Hall of Fame’ UV Krusty Jig Article and photos by Gordon Harryman

T

his jig was named by a local fisherman who nicknamed it for the “hall of fame” days they enjoyed with it. This version of the UV Krusty Jig has definitely been a top winter steelhead producer for me, and a top seller for Bobber Down Jigs, which I operate.

One of the great advantages of this pattern is that not only is it UV, but it’s made totally of synthetic materials, which are good for smearing on your favorite scent.

It’s simple but deadly, and a must-have for any jig box.

Start with a good thread bed to prevent slipping; use a light-colored thread.

OF THE MONTH

Then tightly wrap the chenille forward towards the head, secure with thread and snip excess chenille.

Now lift your UV Polar chenille and start wrapping forward (palmering forward for you nitpickers) in ⅛-inch increments, stroking back the strands as you go.

SUPPLIES You are going to need: cerise or hotpink egg yarn; size large fluorescent shrimp-pink chenille; hot pink (looks light pink) UV Polar Chenille; pearl Krystal Flash and a pearl white jig head (white or glow white are also good options).

JIG

Add yarn and flash. Start by wrapping on a 3-inch piece of the egg yarn, leaving half standing. Take two strands of flash and wrap in, leaving two feelers protruding past the yarn. Now wrap the standing yarn over the tail, and comb and trim it.

Next, wrap in UV Polar Chenille, and then the fluorescent shrimp-pink chenille.

Secure with a whip-finish, snip excess and sit back and admire what you have created. After this pattern caught six fish (four in one day), it was retired to the jig Hall of Fame.

CONTEST WINNER Hunter Shelton is the winner of a selection of the jigs that Chris Gregersen featured in his Jig Of The Month column in 2014! Congrats to the Puget Sound river rat, who also had a guest stint as our Westsider columnist last year. Your jigs are on their way!

JANUARY 2015

Northwest Sportsman 125

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Steelheading From A ’Yak? Tough, But Doable N

ow that it’s dark, cold and nasty outside, my favorite kayak fishing season has finally arrived.

Some of you might KAYAK GUYS

By Todd Switzer think I’ve lost it, but the rest know: I’m talking about steelhead.

Steelheading is one of the most popular fisheries in the Northwest, and for good reason. Many guides make the bulk of their yearly earnings in the winter, taking clients down rivers in drift boats in search of the elusive fish. If you’ve hooked into one, you already know that they put up a fight you’ll never forget. And while most fishermen wouldn’t think of kayaks as the best choice for this fishery, with a few modifications and skills practice, they can be an exceptionally fun way to get to some spots you’d otherwise only be able to access by drift boat.

Moving water and obstacles in the stream make steelheading from a kayak a challenge, one fraught with the danger of a winter dunking, but keeping your tackle and technique simple can pay off. (TODD SWITZER)

I’VE EXPERIMENTED WITH several types of kayaks for steelheading. At first, a whitewater kayak seemed like a good choice, especially during higher flows.

These boats are highly maneuverable, they can take impacts with rocks, and they are easy to roll back if flipped.

However, I found that they’re too short to carry much gear, and any one of my respectable steelhead rods extends several feet beyond the bow or stern.

That might not sound like a dealbreaker, but if you target steelhead, you’re going to run into a lot of overhanging branches and tight eddies.

If you don’t have a foolproof method to protect your rod while navigating the river, you’d better have a quiver of replacement rods at the ready.

I also considered sit-on-top and sit-

inside kayaks. Most kayak fishermen prefer the SOT style to a SINK for a variety of reasons related to ease of use and comfort. I have several SOT kayaks in my

fleet, but when it comes to running rivers for steelhead during the winter, I only use a SINK. They have several features that are critically important for this fishery: They

JANUARY 2015

Northwest Sportsman 127

COLUMN Rather than fish the water drift boats typically anchor up and work, the author concentrates on eddies at the side of the river, fishing the seam with a float and jig or drifting eggs. (TODD SWITZER)

are warmer, as half your body is inside the boat; they offer more dry storage; and most importantly, they are more maneuverable in river situations. With a SINK, your center of gravity is lower than in a SOT, where you are sitting on top of the deck. With this lower center of gravity, and some good bracing against the hull, it is possible to throw a SINK over on its side and carve a line in and out of an eddy. This technique is called edging and it’s one of those techniques you’ll need to master before you move around a fast-flowing river in pursuit of steelhead.

WHEN I STARTED kayaking rivers for steelhead in the winter I tried to copy the techniques used by drift boats, but I quickly realized shortcomings in that approach. Drifters often carry a large lead anchor suspended off the stern on a pulley bracket. When the anglers find a spot to fish – for example, slow water just above rapids – they deploy the anchor

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128 Northwest Sportsman

JANUARY 2015

COLUMN and their location is fixed. The anchor can be recovered by hoisting the line while seated in the center of the boat. These are beamy boats compared to a kayak, with plenty of room to move around should the anchor get stuck. While kayaks can be rigged with anchor systems, they are deployed and recovered from the side of the kayak. When rivers are high, deploying and recovering an anchor always seemed like recipe for disaster to me. My solution was to drift fish through the area where drift boats would typically anchor and concentrate on eddies at the side of the river.

Drift boats often have two or more persons onboard. Many times the guide will be in the center-seat rowing position, while the clients sit at either end of boat.

This situation allows drift boats to hold position by rowing against the current to slow the downstream movement of the boat, while clients toss a few casts into side eddies. In my kayak it’s not possible to hold position against a high flow and get off more than a single quick cast. So I

A kayak angler eyes a seam. (TODD SWITZER)

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decided to sneak up on these eddies.

I do so by entering from downstream and casting upstream, especially along the seam, where the calm and swiftmoving water meet, also known as the eddy line. When I move out of the eddy, I cross over the eddy line with an edging maneuver, bracing against the flow, then moving across the main channel to find another eddy on the opposite side of the river. Or I continue downstream until another interesting eddy comes into view. Stealth is the key here. Your technique of edging and bracing needs to be very smooth. If you come crashing into an eddy, slapping the water with your paddle, you’ll miss out on most of the best fishing areas on the river.

I’ve had friends join me on steelhead trips using their SOT kayaks. At first, the ease at which they can jump in and out of these kayaks seemed like an advantage.

However, when it comes time to edge hard across an eddy line, the SOT kayaks often fail to either enter or exit an eddy smoothly, and sometimes the anglers end up going for an unexpected and very cold swim. The alternative method for SOT river kayakers is to drift with the main flow of the river and focus on only the very large eddies that are easier to enter and exit. But for me that defeats the joy and effectiveness of using a kayak for steelheading. It seems like there are always several small eddies to explore for every large eddy along the river bank.

AS FOR TACKLE and fishing techniques, let’s just say plenty has been written about those. I stick to the basics – twitching jigs and occasionally drifting eggs or jigs under a bobber. You really do want to keep it simple. When kayaking a river for steelhead, one thing is guaranteed: you won’t be bored. The process of reading the water and successfully maneuvering your kayak downriver is a challenge in itself – toss your steelhead gear into the mix and, well, you get the idea. There are plenty of things to hold your attention.

Just please take my advice: If your attention slips, the river will let you know in the form of a nice cold swim. As always, dress for the possibility of going in. Tight lines and stay safe. NS 132 Northwest Sportsman

JANUARY 2015

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FISHING As Spokane Spokesman-Review outdoor columnist Rich Landers snaps pics, Kurt Killgore pilots his jet boat, powered by more than 1,000 horsepower, through Hells Canyon, the deepest and perhaps wildest gorge in North America. (JEFF HOLMES)

Jet Boating Hells Canyon Exploring North America’s deepest – and fishiest – canyon.

By Jeff Holmes

F

rom the 9,393-foot peak of HeDevil in Idaho’s Seven Devils Range, 7,993 feet below to the Snake River, Hells Canyon is North America’s deepest river gorge and is known the world over for its rugged topography, bountiful wildlife, worldclass rafting, unparalleled jetboating, and more. Some of the Snake’s biggest rapids lie dormant behind three dams that produce 70 percent of Idaho’s hydropower, but below Hells Canyon Dam the river reawakens and stretches 79 miles through Hells Canyon National Recreation Area to Heller Bar, about 67 miles of which is designated as Wild and Scenic River. The Snake here features Class IV and V rapids and plays host to truly world-class fishing for several species: abundant hatchery and wild wintering steelhead, trophy catch-and-release sturgeon, Chinook, rainbows, smallmouth, and catfish, among others. Mountain goats, bighorn sheep, wolves, elk, cougar, bear, deer and many other species

range along the river, and some conspicuously dot the rugged slopes stretching skyward above it.

Of all the beautiful places I have visited in the West, nothing touches my love for Hells Canyon and its surrounding landscapes. Hells Canyon itself is beautiful and unparalleled for rugged topography, great fishing and abundant recreational opportunties, but, in my mind, “Hells Canyon Country” is bigger than just the continent’s deepest gorge. The Grande Ronde, Salmon and Imnaha Rivers are not exactly Hells Canyon, but they resemble the big ditch for their wildlife and geography.

During all seasons, wildlife is everywhere in the canyon, although the cast of characters changes by season. In the summer, chukar partridge and grouse are omnipresent along the water’s edge, and bear, deer, and otters are also commonly observed.

In winter, the bruins mostly clear out, although low-elevation Hells Canyon bears are well known for sometimes declining to fully hibernate, instead

taking occasional walks in search of a winter meal. Vast herds of elk and mule deer dot the slopes above the river beginning in late fall, where they remain conspicuous until spring pokes forth, greening up vegetation at higher elevations. Chukar abandon the river bank for the high, rocky canyon slopes and walls once fall rains come.

I’VE ALWAYS HIKED into Hells Canyon from late fall through early spring to steelhead fish via the few hikable access points, but there are other, easier ways to see it. The Lewis and Clark Valley is considered the world’s jet boat capital by many, largely because of the canyon itself and the nearby Clearwater and Salmon Rivers. A number of commercial outfitters operate float and jet boat trips in the canyon, including Killgore Adventures (killgoreadventures.com) of Whitebird, Idaho.

A few times over the last few years, I asked my friend Toby Wyatt of Clarkston’s Reel Time Fishing (reeltimefishing.com) who he’d

JANUARY 2015

Northwest Sportsman

135

FISHING Come winter, steelhead are the main target for Hells Canyon anglers, but the wild stretch of the Snake also holds rainbow trout, is seeing increasing returns of fall Chinook, and in summer smallmouth bass and channel catfish provide good action.

(KILLGORE ADVENTURES)

recommend as an outfitter for upper Hells Canyon, and each time he said Killgore Adventures. Wyatt and the Killgore Family enjoy a great working friendship, but I wisely trusted the verifiability of his advice. Wyatt helped them dial in their fishing guiding program, and they introduced him to the world of hunting several years ago. Although Killgore’s fishing trips on the Salmon and Snake Rivers are lucrative and feature lots of nice

136 Northwest Sportsman

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hatchery and wild fish, it was hunting that first drew me to their comfortable headquarters on Whitebird Creek, just 200 yards from the upper stretches of the lower Salmon River.

On Wyatt’s recommendation, I enjoyed the greatest whitetail hunt of my life with Kurt Killgore this fall, seeing nearly 30 bucks in a two-day hunt. During our time in the field we talked a lot about Hells Canyon Country, including the big canyon

itself. Killgore is an expert jet-boat driver, and much of his family’s business depends on the popular tours that he leads year-round from remote Pittsburg Landing to Hells Canyon Dam, a 32-mile stretch of water that harbors several mighty rapids, including much feared Wild Sheep Rapid, a legitimate class V at many flows. I’d never been above Pittsburg Landing, and a burning desire to see that stretch of water grew even hotter when I realized I wouldn’t have to risk life and limb floating in a raft to see it. Instead, Killgore invited me back in early December to run the rapids, fish a little, and see the rest of the canyon that I had not. He operates both a 31-foot and 36-foot jet boat, both of which are equipped with well over 1,000 horsepower. That power is needed to negotiate boat-eating rapids and to make long-distance runs in a timely manner, yet both craft idle low enough to side-drift and back-troll the Snake’s deep runs

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FISHING

Erika Holmes made quick work of a nearly 7-foot sturgeon, one of many oversize fish in Hells Canyon that are only open for catch-andrelease fishing. (JEFF HOLMES)

and tailouts. When I told my wife Erika about the opportunity to see the canyon with some steelheading on the side, she jumped at the offer, and we made plans to make a mid-

December visit and invited our family friend and one of the West’s most decorated writers and respected sportsmen: Rich Landers of Spokane’s Spokesman Review.

AFTER A NOT-SO-EARLY-MORNING wakeup due to short days and delayed daylight, Erika and I kicked our smelly setters out of the backseat of the truck and into the back, and Landers abandoned the company minivan to jump in with us for the 45-minute drive from the Killgore’s motel in Whitebird to Pittsburg Landing, the furthest upstream access to Hells Canyon other than the dam itself. We crossed the Salmon River just upstream from its confluence with Whitebird Creek near Killgore Adventure’s home base, and began to wind up away from the Salmon through an area I hunted for whitetail in mid-November. I pointed out a teasel patch that four mature bucks had been occupying during my hunt. We drove past a section of the Killgore’s property where I had hunted in November, and I showed Erika and Landers the place where I had lain in a prone position to take a 350-yard shot at a 5x4, only to have

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the Killgore’s 2,500-pound longhorn steer sneak to within 5 yards of my defenseless body. Long story short, I leapt up in terror, hid behind a lone power pole, and waited while Kurt’s dad, Les, shooed the steer away for me to make my shot.

The relatively short two-track drive to Pittsburg from Whitebird is a gorgeous trip during all seasons, but with several inches of snow on the treed ridges above the Salmon and Snake, our entry into the canyon was especially gorgeous this day. Even Killgore took pics as we crossed the divide and began to make our way down to the river.

Pittsburg Landing itself offers an excellent boat ramp, restrooms, rustic camping, and picnic areas. It’s an excellent access point, but it’s remote, and there are no services. Typically, December flows – which are regulated

by Hells Canyon Dam – are very low, but the river looked bigger than I expected. Killgore reported it had nearly tripled in volume overnight, not a good sign as any steelheader knows. Nonetheless, we loaded up the boat with side-drifting, plug, and bobber rods and a crew of fun people that also included three of Killgore’s close friends. One, Mike, would get dropped off to hunt chukar, while the others remained onboard for a tour to the dam with some fishing mixed in.

Hells Canyon fish receive very little pressure, and there’s lots of them. Typically, the only hindrance to getting bit is high or off-color water, and while there was 3 feet of visibility on this day, a tripled flow pushed the steelhead closer to the shoreline and put them off the bite.

After several drifts without any steel, I got antsy to see more of the canyon instead of grinding on fish that appeared to be in a negative mood from the major increase in flow.

Catching and releasing one of the canyon’s abundant oversized sturgeon was our backup plan, not that we needed one to have a great day. The hillsides were crawling with elk – including big bulls – on both the Idaho 140 Northwest Sportsman

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and Oregon shores. Bulls and big mule deer bucks that wouldn’t show themselves three weeks ago were in full effect on this day. Golden and bald eagles coursed the river as always, and waterfowl erupted from shorelines as Killgore pushed the big boat upriver.

As one passenger put it, “He makes this looks easy.”

Killgore would seemingly steer into the greatest obstacles in the rapids, pivoting away at the last minute with a burst of upstream power. He picked his way easily through each major cataract with waves of water washing over the bow and spray cascading over the stern of the covered, heated tour boat. First we tore through Rush Creek Rapids, Water Spout, Lower Bernard Creek, Upper Bernard Creek, Granite Creek, and finally, storied Wild Sheep.

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of times the last 12 years, and he showed a reassuring respect and fear for the river and its many dangers.

AFTER A STOP at the dam, where you can also launch – and many steelheaders do – we went downstream in search of a sturgeon hole and a possible oversized fish. Really all Hells Canyon sturgeon are oversized since it’s catch-and-release only, but we were after one of the canyon’s many 6-plus-footers. Killgore pulled the big boat behind a back eddy and we dropped salmon-baited hooks into two positions in the hole and motored to a side in wait of a bite.

Delicious lunches from the Killgores, fine American beers, great talk, and unparalleled scenery made for a fun – and short – wait.

A sturgeon was mouthing our bait 50 feet below the narrow river’s surface, with the heavy rod tip dancing. After a sufficient wait, we stuck the metal to the sturgeon, and the smallest member of our group, Erika, grabbed the rod. A veteran deep-water halibut and bottomfish anglers, Erika has twice reeled up old men’s halibut for them when their arms failed on charter boats, so I rolled my eye when all of the men on board insisted she’d need help.

She didn’t, and after a 25-minute fight, we brought a nearly 7-footer to shore for pictures and a quick release. This wasn’t close to Erika’s first sturgeon, but it was the first big one she’d caught, and it was fun.

With our spirits lifted we ran back toward excellent steelhead water closer to Pittsburg Landing.

After several drifts and only nice rainbow trout to show for it, we succumbed to the darkening sky and called it a day, surrounded on both sides of the canyon by big herds of elk and mule deer, including lots of animals with antlers. We looked at them longingly as we reeled up and made the short run to Pittsburg Landing and our long drive home, out of Hells Canyon Country. NS

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The Ice Can Be Nice In North Idaho

An ice fisherman pulls his gear across the ice of Chatcolet Lake, one of numerous North Idaho waters that freeze each winter. (RALPH BARTHOLDT)

W

e drove south past former mill towns, the stacks of sawdust burners pitched against the INLAND NORTHWEST sky, smokeless and

By Ralph Bartholdt as iconic as the old pickups and panel trucks rusting into heaps of bark and snow nearby.

The kids were in the back seat, bundled in snow suits and flannel, boots and wool.

In the very back, where the roll-down window is, the small poles bounced around in the five-gallon buckets, their slim flashers and sinkers jingling and shooting sunlight through the cab like a disco ball.

Winter in North Idaho includes ice fishing, and we were headed to places with names like Elk Creek, Moose Creek and Spring Valley, places we knew had fish and ice, a rather rare combination.

Somewhere around the logging town of Clarkia, the snow began to pile up alongside the road. As we drove into the foothills of the Bitterroots and the St. Joe and Clearwater National Forests, the banked snow, cut by plows, impeded vision. The mill in Boville closed years ago, and the town is mostly comprised of remnants: old line-and-grapple logging machines and trailer houses spot the residential areas. The cafe has closed and opened a few times, but the bar still has a light on.

It isn’t far from here that we unload the kids near one of the three reservoirs. They hobble onto the ice as I auger holes. They sit on buckets and wait for the fish to bite: trout mostly, put-and-takers, although Moose Creek and Spring Valley, near Troy, have bass, crappies and sunfish too.

Ice fishing in North Idaho is kind of like that put-and-take fishery. You have to

grab it while you can. There are a few lakes, however, that in most winters have ice solid enough to sit on. You sit for days, staring at a slushy hole or across a flat, chilled escarpment, waiting for the flags of tip-ups to signal a bite. It’s wonderful.

COCOLALLA LAKE, ABOUT a half-hour drive north of the Hayden-Coeur d’Alene “metro” area, is one of the most popular ice fishing lakes around. There are more waters north of here, near Bonners Ferry, and they are absolutely go-to spots, but access in winter can be sketchy. Cocolalla borders Highway 95 and is full of perch and rainbow trout, even some brown trout, but most people trot onto the ice for its panfish.

“There are loads of them,” says Matt Palmer, a fishing guide for Fins and Feathers Bait and Tackle (208-667-9304) in Coeur d’Alene. “There are always good numbers of perch, and the lake usually has ice.”

JANUARY 2015

Northwest Sportsman 147

COLUMN accessible in deep snow.

“It was unbelievable last year,” he says, recalling that anglers pulled many of the lake’s abundant kokanee through 10-inch holes in the ice.

ROSE LAKE LIES half an hour east of Coeur

Northern pike are among the many species ice fishermen target, often suspending a dead smelt or herring near bottom and under a tip-up.

(RALPH BARTHOLDT)

Fishing under the hard top requires small, usually soft-bodied, glow-type jigs, often tipped with maggots. Or you can try small flashy spoons. Anglers never veer from these combinations for trout and panfish in winter.

SPIRIT LAKE IS both a town and a lake which lies a short distance southwest of Cocolalla.

The town has a grocery store and a coffeeand-book shop that serves New York-syle bagels. There are a few taverns too, and the lake is easily accessed from town, tucked into pockets of rock. Spirit Lake is deep, cold and holds its share of kokanee.

Palmer likes to access the ice from the lake’s eastern shore, at Nautical Loop Road, or from a forest road that isn’t always

d’Alene, not far from I-90. Take the Rose Lake exit onto Highway 3 and head a mile south to the fishing access signs on the right. There’s a tavern here called Watson’s Resort. From here you can get onto the ice at two Idaho Department of Fish & Game access sites. Just follow the anglers. If you don’t see anyone on the ice, fish near frozen holes speckled with fish offal.

Rose Lake has pike and plenty of panfish. Often the best place to auger a hole is west of the access sites.

“Last year there were a few nice pike taken out of there,” Palmer says.

The fish ranged well above 10 pounds, with a couple tipping the scales at 20 pounds, he adds.

Catching pike requires a different tack.

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bottom, at the edge of weed lines. This will attract slow-cruising northerns. Anglers often use several tip-ups. You can fish with up to five poles at a time, but you must attend them all.

THE TRIPLE LAKES area east of Moscow includes Spring Valley, Moose Creek and Elk Creek Reservoirs. Travel east from Moscow on Highway 8 for about 12 miles to find this popular winter fishery.

Put-and-take trout are pretty much the rule here, although you can also get panfish. If you continue another 12 miles east on Highways 8 and 3, you’ll get to Moose Creek. Elk Creek is just down the road along Highway 8 (the highway here is sometimes called North 3rd Street), past the small town of Elk River.

WINCHESTER LAKE, NEAR the town of Winchester, Idaho, on the Camas Prairie about 30 minutes south of Lewiston starts getting ice in December. The lake is sort of an anomaly next to an anomaly. The town

of Winchester was named for the rifle. A lot of people had them in 1900, and although the number of rifles in Winchester has probably grown since then, the population – about 300 – remains pretty close to the same. A large likeness of the famous firearm hangs over a downtown street.

The lake at the town’s edge is a place where IDFG has done a little Jekyl-andHyde work to provide more opportunities for anglers. It contains tiger muskies of up to 40 inches, an aggressive test-tube pike popular among anglers. The department has also stocked it with channel catfish.

The staple fishery here, though, are the stocked rainbows that range between 10 and 14 inches, says fisheries biologist Robert Hand in Lewiston.

“There’s definitely some larger ones in there,” he says.

The population of catfish aren’t just summer denizens. Anglers catch them through the ice, Hand says. The catfishers tend to focus on drop-offs near the entry of the main stream. Once they locate a pocket

of cats, it’s come ’ere kitty, he says.

FISHING IN NORTH Idaho in January may require a couple of phone calls to confirm ice conditions. Try IDFG at (208) 769-1414.

Don’t forget to ask about conditions on the chain lakes of the Coeur d’Alene River.

Killarney Lake, another easily accessible location has a lot of northern pike that range around the 24-inch mark. A few miles south, Medicine and Cave Lakes near Medimont can also be go-to fisheries in good ice years, and Chatcolet Lake between St. Maries and Plummer is often targeted for pike and perch.

For reports on lakes along the Highway 95 corridor, call IDFG’s Lewiston office at (208) 799-5010. A couple additional spots anglers may target include Soldiers Meadow Reservoir, a deep pool of water south of Lewiston which holds kokanee, and Waha Lake, which regularly gives up rainbows through the ice in the 14-inch range and larger. Road access to both water bodies is maintained in winter. NS

WALLEYE NUMBERS NEARLY DOUBLE AT LAKE PEND OREILLE Walleye numbers in Lake Pend Oreille have nearly doubled in the past three years, Idaho fishery managers reported early last month, but though they don’t want the “relative newcomer” to the state in the Panhandle lake, they say there’s not much they can do to reverse the invasion either.

Following up on 2011’s gill net survey, the Department of Fish & Game reported that last year’s found that “5- and 6-pound fish are relatively common,” though the nonnative species that’s come down from illegal introductions in Montana “are still relatively low in abundance” compared to Lake Roosevelt, where there are more than twice as many per acre.

Sampling was performed in the delta of the Clark Fork, across the lake itself and down the Pend Oreille River, which drains into Washington at Newport and eventually empties into the Columbia River in southern British Columbia.

Walleye, a Midwest and Missouri River transplant, were first seen in the 150 Northwest Sportsman

JANUARY 2015

lake about 10 years ago but weren’t caught in any real numbers until 2010, according to IDFG. Three years ago, with rising alarm the agency reported: “The netting resulted in an average catch rate of 1.4 walleye per net per night, which is relatively low abundance. Captured walleye were largely from one age class averaging 16-18 inches with a few larger fish, up to 28 inches (9 lbs). Walleye growth rates were remarkably high. This isn’t surprising, considering the low density population and the lack of competition.”

Though a popular species amongst anglers, walleye are piscivorous and could impact native species such as cutthroat and bull trout, and a recovering kokanee population.

IDFG says the species are “now a permanent part of the northern Idaho waterscape” and “eliminating the population would not be possible.”

However, bound by policy that bars promoting or enhancing fisheries

begun by bucket biologists, the agency says it won’t be encouraging growth of the walleye population.

“Over the past 100 years, there have been hundreds of introductions by government agencies, sportsmen’s groups, and private individuals. Many of them provided benefits, but others have caused irreparable damage,” says regional fisheries bio Rob Ryan.

Northern pike, another invader from the east, have also increased in recent years, making it all the way to Lake Roosevelt. Elsewhere in Northeast Washington, a “startling increase” in the number of yellow perch at Curlew Lake was also reported last fall. A destination trout fishery, the rise puts locals’ successful netpen program at risk. Three perch turned up in a 2012 survey, but last summer, more than 800 were netted out of the lake, and another 200 were caught in an eradication derby. Washington fishery managers worry there are thousands more still, and a winter derby could target the species. –NWS

Puget Sound Blackmouth!

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Winter blackmouth have arrived throughout the Puget Sound, the San Juan Islands and the Strait of Juan de Fuca. Good areas for targeting these teenage kings this month are, of course, Areas 9 (starting January 16th) and 10 (already open), but Areas 8-1 and 8-2 between Whidbey and Camano Islands can be productive too!

An excellent starting point is to launch from the Camano Island State Park boat camp. Try fishing Elger Bay just south of the launch, or cruise west to the eastern shorelines of Whidbey Island around Baby Island and Greenbank. There’s typically calmer water here since the area is more protected from cold north and south winds.

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The key to finding these feeders is bait. Find the bait and you’ll find the salmon; it’s just that simple. Blackmouth are voracious feeders, so once you’re on top of them, stick it out all the way through the slack tidal exchange. Think deep, as blackmouth will prey on spawning candlefish and herring near the bottom. Follow 90- to 140-foot contours on your depth sounder and bounce the downrigger balls off the bottom, which will stir up sediment, create vibration and attract blackmouth.

Use smaller spoons in glow green/white, and pearl with 38- to 44-inch leaders.

Hootchies and tube flies trolled 26 to 34 inches behind a flasher in similar colors and tipped with a herring strip can sometimes coax larger fish. Troll between 1.8 and 2.8 mph, pinch your barbs, add herring or shrimp oil, and you’re ready to go!

Fish will often weigh in the midteens, and can even exceed 20 pounds! Minimum size for Chinook is 22 inches and the daily limit is two fin-clipped fish. Always check the WDFW website for updates.

This message brought to you by Northwest Sportsman writer/contributor Tim Bush of Wooldridge Boats.

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Northwest Sportsman 151

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Rufus Woods An Excellent Cold-weather Fishery

Laden with rainbows and walleye, Rufus Woods Lake offers good fishing throughout its 50 miles. Brad Hole and Todd Switzer had a good day on its lower end last January, catching 22- to 25-inch trout on a Power Bait-tipped hoochie behind a small silver flasher. (TODD SWITZER)

W

ant to catch big trout?

H e f t y walleye? Maybe even both in a single trip?

Well, if you can handle a harsh dose

By Leroy Ledeboer of winter’s chill, and you have a reasonably big craft, Rufus Woods is your go-to spot. At the Columbia River reservoir’s lower end you’ll almost feel like you’re on a big lake.

At its upper end, where the phenomenal flows coming through Grand Coulee Dam create real turbulence, it’s a different fishery altogether.

The Colville Tribe has done an excellent job of replenishing triploid trout in Rufus, and this season it didn’t take long for word to spread about another 23,400 2- and 3-pounders released in October, a

BASIN BEACON

hefty follow-up to the 5,700 released in September. By early November, dozens of boat and shore anglers were busy near the big commercial pens, getting in on this latest bonanza.

Of course, these aren’t like those real pigs we saw back in the 1990s, after several net-pen breaches had dumped thousands of 8-plus-pounders into the water. For a couple of years there it was no real trick to nail a jumbo or two. On several trips my partners and I ran everything from a variety of cranks to baited squidspinner set-ups behind heavy bottom walkers, and we came home with some real dandies. Nothing close to the 18- to 20-pound hawgs a few guys hooked into, or the 29.6-pound state record Norm Butler pulled out of there in ’02, but 7to 10-pounders mixed amongst 5- and 6-pounders were more than enough to

send us home happy.

And continuing through today you have a reasonable chance of nailing a hawg on Rufus. After all, these are sterile trout, so they don’t waste strength and energy spawning, rather adding weight and girth year after year. But now, with so many 2- to 6-pound fish ready to grab your baits, you’re much more likely to limit on dandy, but somewhat smaller triploids.

MOST OF TODAY’S Rufus triploids are real battlers, pound for pound right up there with any cold-water rainbows of comparable size, unlike the super-fat fish that escaped the net pens. And better yet, the new releases will quickly spread throughout the reservoir. By now you can launch at the upper end and nail them everywhere from the can line, just in front of the dam, to the shallower shorelines a

JANUARY 2015

Northwest Sportsman 153

COLUMN few miles downstream. Trollers can use everything from maggot-tipped K-Flies to small cranks, baited Wedding Rings and squid-spinner rigs.

There are also fine opportunities for plunkers on stretches of shoreline along both sides of the launch, primarily using floating dough baits or ’crawlermarshmallows, right off the bottom. Plus, the shorelines close to the upper net pens have consistently produced many of the true heavyweights, including that first state record to come out of Rufus, Robert Halverson’s 25-plus-pounder.

Just remember, you need a Colville Tribes permit to fish the north side of the reservoir outside of the designated areas where a state license will do, and wherever you are, if you’re using bait of any kind, you can’t catch and release. This is a heavily patrolled water, both by state and tribal fish and wildlife officers. In early November, a Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife game warden told me that he and his partner had issued over 20 citations in a single day.

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IF YOU LAUNCH at Seatons Grove, off Highway 155 north of the town of Coulee Dam, it’s not only a much shorter run to the upper pens, where the triploid opportunities can be just as good, but you can find both walleye and rainbows along the seams between the fast current and the small shoreline bays or the lee side of the big island.

In winter this becomes a prime go-to spot for hardcore walleye anglers looking for real quality fish, many in the 3- to 6-pound range. You’ll want to get there on a day when vast quantities of water are churning through those turbines or you’ll really have to work for your fish. I’ve been there enough times over the years to see a wide variety of lures become the latest hot item, everything from ’crawler-tipped jigs to cranks trolled slowly along the seams to more traditional bottom walkerspinner worm rigs.

Although there is some natural reproduction of both walleye and rainbows in Rufus, it appears to be fairly

minimal. Most of the spinyrays no doubt get washed over Grand Coulee, and a lot of rainbows come through as well. How many trout survive the turbines, or even the long drop and turbulent water that cascade over the dam, is a good question, but obviously a fair number do. These trout make a great addition to those lower stretches. No, they’re not triploid pigs, just dandy 1- to 3-pounders that put up a fantastic battle in that fast current.

And, like the triploids, they make great table fare.

Personally, I’d like to see the limit on Rufus Woods rainbows raised, but it is what it is, so please abide by it. For starters, this is a good way to avoid a pricey citation, but more importantly, it’s the right thing to do. And even if you’re not using bait, be extremely careful with your catch-and-release technique. Trout are not spinyrays and they can’t handle much stress. Far too many rainbows in the reservoir are mishandled and end up as crawdad feed. NS

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Northwest Sportsman 155

156 Northwest Sportsman

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FISHING

Trophies Lurk In Local Lakes Where you can find your biggest trout of the year.

By Terry Otto

T

here’s something different about this trout,” I thought as I set the hook and held on.

The 12-inch rainbows I had hooked up until now didn’t lie on the bottom, shaking their heads like this. Once I brought the fish up to the fishing dock, I realized with a shock that it wouldn’t fit in my net. I had to leap off and pull the big rainbow to the bank, where I wrestled it up and grabbed it. The 5-pound, 4-ounce trout was a brood fish, used for egg take at the hatchery and then released Fishery managers on both sides of the Lower Columbia annually “retire” large broodstock rainbows, for someone to catch. Lucky me! releasing them into small venues such as St. Louis Ponds near Woodburn, Ore., which is where Joe Hanshaw It’s a rite of winter at lakes from of Salem caught this nice one. (RICK SWART, ODFW) Vancouver, Wash., south through the upper Willamette Valley: state steelhead every other week through will be available, or exactly when. hatcheries finish their spawning December, and many of those big fish However, over the course of the year, for the year and then release the are still around. they share the love as much as possible. broodstockers into lakes for folks According to Farrand, the 2“We try to spread the wealth to catch. The oversized rainbows and 3-year-old trout will be 3 to around,” says Farrand. “We also try sometimes reach 15 pounds, and 6 pounds, and the 4- and 5-yearto give notice when we can, because when someone hooks one on light olds will usually run right about the program is so popular. Sometimes trout gear, it can be a kind of joyful 10 pounds. The trout are coming it’s not possible on short notice. We do mayhem until you bank the fish. from the Roaring River and Leaburg not know when or how many will be You can thank old age, per Hatcheries, east of Corvallis and available.” se, for the opportunities. Once Eugene.

However, he does say that you the fish reach a certain size, their Farrand reminds fishermen that can find the releases in the weekly productivity declines. the limit in local lakes is one trout stocking report online at dfw.state.

“They reach a point of over 20 inches. or.us, and it’s the same for fishermen diminishing returns,” says Alex “If you catch one, leave the rest until on the Washington side, who can key Farrand, assistant fisheries biologist the next day, or let the other fishermen on recent releases via wdfw.wa.gov. for the Oregon Department of get a crack at them,” he says.

Fish and Wildlife’s mid-Willamette In the past, anglers have been OREGON This year, plants have been District. “So those fish get retired.” known to take a brooder trout planned for Mt. Hood Pond, Sheridan Retired to local ponds, that is. home, only to return for another.

Pond, Timber Linn Lake, Canby Pond, The popular program brings anglers EE Wilson Pond, Henry Hagg Lake, out in droves, and well-bundled Waverly Lake, Walling Pond, Walter WASHINGTON Stacie Kelsey of the fishermen brave the rain and weather Wirth Lake, and St. Louis Pond No. 6.

Washington Department of Fish & for their chance at trout the size of ODFW has also stocked brooders Wildlife’s Region 5 Inland Fisheries steelhead swimming in local rivers. in the Junction City Ponds, which also Program reports that, on the north Anglers Andre Sampier and Russell Wright search along Harlan Road for a spot to fish Big Oregon Elk Creek. Much of the river flows parallel to the backroad, which connects Burnt fisheries managers don’t got excess hatchery summer steelhead. side of the Columbia, there will be Woods along Highway 20 with Toledo.

(RANDALL BONNER) know for sure how many brood trout The agency planted about 50 or 60 plenty of brooder trout too.

JANUARY 2015

Northwest Sportsman

157

FISHING In addition, WDFW will plant excess steelhead into a couple lakes.

“Kress Lake gets supplemental steelhead,” she says, “and if there are enough, Battleground Lake could get some too.”

WDFW will stock brood trout throughout Region 5, including lakes in the Columbia River Gorge.

Vancouver-area waters slated for rainbows include Battleground and Horseshoe Lakes and Klineline Pond.

The Washington brooders come from the Goldendale Hatchery. In all, 14 lakes will get plants of brood trout or leftover steelhead. The lakes are stretched from Longview in the west to Klickitat County in the east, where the popular Spearfish Lake, near The Dalles, will receive about 100 brood trout.

In addition to the broodstockers, you’ll also likely find fair numbers of catchables at some waters, thanks to big releases this past fall. NS

158 Northwest Sportsman

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WHAT’S GOING WHERE In Washington, plans call for a total release of 2,175 broodstock trout, with 1,479 of those slated for Southwest Washington.

Lake (opener)

County

# 3- and 4year-olds

Comments

Battleground (year-round) Clark

100

Carlisle (late April) Lewis Horseshoe (year-round) Cowlitz

95 65

Horsethief (late April) Icehouse (year-round)

Klickitat Skamania

120 41

Kidney (late April) Klineline (year-round) Kress (year-round)

Skamania Clark Cowlitz

63 150 0

Little Ash (year-round) Mineral (late April)

Skamania Lewis

41 265

Rowland (late April) Sacajawea (year-round)

Klickitat Cowlitz

205 150

Spearfish (late April) Tunnel (year-round)

Klickitat Skamania

105 79

Also planted with excess adult steelhead Open through February Also planted with excess adult steelhead Held until just before opener Located at north end of Bridge of the Gods Open through February Good wheelchair access Planted with excess adult steelhead Also near Bridge of the Gods Plant first while weather permits Open through February Good access via a Longview city park Open through February Just east of Drano Lake

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COLUMN

A Westsider’s Fishing Calendar For 2015

FEBRUARY All of the Olympic Peninsula rivers kick into high gear for steelhead this month.

If this year’s like last, smelt will be dippable in the Cowlitz in February (pilot fish showed up way back in early December), and on the Columbia you can always catch and release sturgeon. But don’t forget all the stocker trout and steelhead smolts that have been planted in our neighborhood lakes – like mine, Green Lake and Lake

Ballinger – in recent months.

MARCH OK, so these two waters

APRIL

and Satsop Rivers are good for January steelhead, both native and hatchery. Check the regs. I’m calling my buddy Joe Superfisky (superflysguideservice.com, 360-

FEBRUARY

JANUARY

JANUARY The Wynoochee

888-7772) to take me down those rivers.

He’s spent a lifetime getting his clients into incredible fish memories.

My favorite, as you may know, is winter blackmouth salmon fishing. The bite can be breathtaking, if you’re in the right spot at the right time.

Another winter favorite for Seattleites is squid jigging. Pick up your jigs from Outdoor Emporium, just south of downtown, and head for Pier 86 near Belltown at night.

MARCH

C

an you believe it?

Happy New “Fishing” Year 2015!

I’m giving thanks, remembering all my WESTSIDER killer 2014 fishing

By Tim Bush experiences, and just wanting to fish 24/7/365 in this paradise called the Pacific Northwest! There’s amazing water from east to west, lowland to alpine, lakes to rivers and streams, inlets and bays to the beautiful Pacific Ocean. Everything is moments away. This is why Washington anglers have it all. So, for planning 2015 fishing adventures, I thought I’d better write it all down.

From blackmouth to brights, springers to summer kings, this year Westsider cocolumnist Tim Bush is looking forward to chasing Chinook like this 30-pounder caught by Brandon Nysether off La Push. (BRANDON NYSETHER)

APRIL This month, bass start moving

aren’t in Western Washington, per se, but here’s a little known fact: Eastsiders were 206ers before they were 509ers, back when the state had just one area code. Come the March 1 trout opener, Lakes Lenice and Lenore are on my “try a new place” list.

This month is also when guys will begin hooking into their first springer of the year on the Columbia and Cowlitz.

Chinook are also feeding around northern Puget Sound and the Strait of Juan de Fuca, especially off of Neah Bay and Cape Flattery. If you get a March king, you’re doing pretty well in life.

up in the water column and away from the cold, deeper waters to seek out gravel beds during their annual prespawn. It’s exciting to target them as they stack up between Lake Union and

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Northwest Sportsman 163

COLUMN the Lake Washington Ship Canal. They feed on the stickleback smolts between the mainlake and the saltwater of Puget Sound near Ballard Locks.

The last Saturday in April is also Washington’s Westside lowland lake trout opener, big doins’!

JUNE Showing up this month on

the Skykomish River, summer-run steelhead and Chinook – which, by the way, I’m told is the same stock as the big kings returning to the Tulalip Bubble hatchery north of Everett.

Catch and release for blackmouth in the northern portion of Marine Area 10 can be really exciting from Jefferson Head to the boundary line at Apple Tree Point, just north of the Kingston ferry terminal.

Also, June 1 is typically the opener for south Puget Sound salmon in Area 11.

There are always leftover blackmouth hanging around, and some earlyreturning Chambers Creek Chinook.

& McGILL/EAGLE CLAW PHOTO CONTEST)

JULY

mid-March in the ocean and midApril out of Neah Bay, it’s not until May 1 that the tasty fishy are fair game in Puget Sound. I plan on hitting up anything that has a rock surrounded by water. It’s so much fun to target the big ones with live sanddabs from my boat at Possession Bar, though I also love to toss bass-style lead-head jigs with a single or double curly tail and skirt. But you never know where you might get one – try off the shoreline at Pier 86, any rock jetties and rocky bottom structure, or the “Alki Reef” just south of Alki Point.

May also means halibut. Though hard to catch, especially with the few

JUNE

MAY

MAY While lingcod season opens in

Taiga Sarnecky and the rest of Pugetropolis are looking forward to the annual oddyear return of pink salmon.

Taiga’s was caught off Dash Point near Tacoma on a pink jig in 2013. (WRIGHT

open dates and typical strong spring tidal exchanges, it’s all about the prep for these guys! Get to Neah Bay – save me a spot, Jambo! (jambosportfishing) – Port Angeles, Port Townsend and Whidbey Island boat launches for this fishery!

JULY July means Chinook in Marine

Areas 9 and 10 – my backyard!

Remember the fishing rule: don’t travel over fish to find fish – if they’re already in, they’re in. Year after year, these kings will show up along the northern shorelines of Puget Sound and I’ll be ready for them. If I launch from the Shilshole Bay/Golden Gardens launch,

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Northwest Sportsman 165

I’ll go no further than Point No Point along the Kitsap Peninsula. Many fish will be along eastern Puget Sound at places like the oil docks near Edmonds and West Point off of Magnolia Bluff in Seattle.

AUGUST

AUGUST This year I want to take one of Mark Coleman’s boats (allriversguideservice.com) out of Westport for tuna! But I’ll also be hanging out in Ilwaco, the closest port to Buoy 10, which again looks promising for salmon. This is an amazing fishery. There’s nothing quite like a 30-plus-pound Chinook running straight back to the ocean with your drag cranked down so tight, but it seems like it’s freespooling! Don’t forget, this is also an oddnumbered year, so pink salmon will be flooding into Puget Sound too.

SEPTEMBER

SEPTEMBER

Salmon will be everywhere! Pinks and coho in the saltwater, staging for the rivers, kings in the rivers, a chance to win ten grand or a shiny new boat up at the big Everett derby, perfect backcountry trout fishing conditions … ahh, heaven.

OCTOBER

OCTOBER Might as well call this month Coho-ber. Large, latereturning native hooknoses show everywhere from Sekiu and the Straits to the Skagit, Stillaguamish, Skykomish and elsewhere.

NOVEMBER

NOVEMBER Look for hard-fighting

DECEMBER

DECEMBER Winter blackmouth season gets going, plus I would love to target those big Nisqually chums, which are the brightest chums on the planet and when cut, look just like coho meat. NS

chum salmon in spots like the famous Hoodsport Hatchery along the west side of Hood Canal and up the Green River. Late November also marks the start of winter steelhead returns to Puget Sound rivers, though outside of the Skykomish there won’t be many in 2015.

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JANUARY 2015

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COLUMN

A trip north to a pair of Alaskan rivers this past summer gave Blake and Buzz Ramsey, here with a Nushagak Chinook, a chance to bond, bringing them “closer together than we have ever been.” (BUZZ RAMSEY)

Time To Plan This Year’s Fishing Adventures!

H

igh adventure is what our son, Blake, says about our July fishing trip to Alaska. I remember watching his wideBUZZ RAMSEY eyed reaction as our pilot touched the float plane down on the Togiak, a free-flowing river 60 miles west of Dillingham. Blake’s response was no different when he was advised to take bear spray along before heading to a pike-filled lake, saw the enormity of the Alaska Range

we flew across, or landed one big fish after another from rivers teaming with salmon.

This father-and-son trip really involved two fishing adventures: one to the Togiak River and the other to the lower Nushagak.

Both streams empty into Bristol Bay but differ in size, surrounding landscape, and overall experience. The travel distance, from Portland to Alaska, was why we’d planned this adventure around two different destinations.

THE TOGIAK Draining the center of the Togiak National Wildlife Refuge before

entering the northern side of Bristol Bay, the Togiak River is regarded by many as one of the best salmon fishing destinations in Alaska.

“While the number of salmon bound for the Togiak may not match that of some other Alaskan rivers, the commercial interception of salmon is much less, which is why we see a steady stream of fish all season long,” notes Larry Lund, owner of Togiak River Lodge (503-784-7919).

After arriving at the lodge, located 7 miles upstream from Togiak Village at the mouth of the river, it was only a few

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Northwest Sportsman 169

COLUMN hours before guide Chris Sessions (360713-2806) got Blake and I into nonstop Chinook fishing action. On the second day we took to calling Blake the “Fish Assassin” for catching and releasing so many kings, including one that Sessions estimated at just shy of 40 pounds, big for this part of Alaska. We also landed and released a few sockeye, chum and humpies, as well as searun Dolly Varden and rainbow trout.

While we enjoyed steady action by backtrolling Mag Lip and FlatFish plugs from our 18-foot jet boat, others staying at the lodge found success downstream trolling salmonsize spinners and back-bouncing or bobber fishing salmon egg clusters. Everyone was catching fish!

As for the Togiak River Lodge, which is located right on the banks of the river, it’s all about comfort and good fishing.

The lodge features a large dining room supported by two award-winning chefs, and waitresses and a friendly support staff that keep everything running smoothly so you can just fish. In case you

170 Northwest Sportsman

JANUARY 2015

Winter provides Northwest sportsmen a fine opportunity to shop for spring, summer and fall getaways.

Lodge owners, charter skippers and outfitters from across our region as well as British Columbia, Alberta, northern Canada and Alaska – this image shows the Togiak River Lodge – will attend the dozens of shows held around Washington, Oregon and Idaho over the coming months. (BUZZ RAMSEY)

want connection to the outside world, there’s satellite TV, wireless Internet, and access to a GCI cell phone. There’s also a hot tub and sauna. It’s the comforts of this lodge that draw so many family groups over other fishing destinations.

The thrill of riding in a float plane as it scooted across the river current took our minds off leaving the Togiak. Though we didn’t want to leave, it added a measure of anticipation for our next adventure destination.

THE NUSHAGAK I’ve known Bob Toman since the mid-1970s, and although he and I have fished together many times, this was my first trip to his camp on the famed Nushagak. These days Bob’s son Jeremy Toman (503-522-4327) owns and operates the camp, but Bob still guides clients at this popular fishing destination.

The Nushagak is a big river with many tributaries and connecting lakes, which means it hosts giant runs of sockeye salmon in addition to Chinook, chum, coho and

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Northwest Sportsman 171

COLUMN switch to back-trolling large salmon plugs.

Bob proved the effectiveness of his favorite spinner, the Toman Thumper Flex Squid spinner, which also added to Blakeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s reputation as a king killer. Yep, he caught one after another. What was interesting to Blake and I, and what Bob carefully explained beforehand, is how the salmon bite spinners differently. Examples are the slack line, hard strike, soft tug, and bumpbump-bump bites. Blake and I kept on the edge of our seats looking for these different types of bites. Doing so, we hooked salmon far more often than if weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d only yanked on the hard-striking fish.

pinks. And while you may catch any one of them, most anglers target the kings. Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s because they range from 12 to 25 pounds, with fish up to 50 pounds caught each year.

As for the facility, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a comfortable tent camp, complete with a separate cook and eating tent, more than one outhouse and shower facility, and hot running water. One could say itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s roughing it in style, and all situated within a stoneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s throw of the river. A unique thing about the operation is that, in addition to offering guided trips, the camp offers self-guided trips. You do what you want, and the camp supplies the lodging, meals and jet boat.

Just as with the Columbia below Bonneville, how you fish the Nushagak depends on the tide. Although itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s located 60 miles from Bristol Bay, the river in front of Jeremyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s camp is influenced by the daily swings from high to low, causing the current to slow with each flood. When the current slows, downstream trolling a salmonsize spinner works great. When the tide is outgoing and the current speed increases,

SHOW SEASON All in all, the experience was a father-and-son trip Blake and I will always remember. It was a unique experience, different from the norm, and brought us closer together than we have ever been.

Although the adventure you seek might include something like ours, you may also desire something different. And nowâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s the time to find it â&#x20AC;&#x201C; winter is sportsmenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s

show season.

In addition to seeing whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s new, getting a deal, and attending a seminar, you can discover your next fishing or hunting adventure. Yes, searching the Internet is a good place to start, but attending the shows throughout the Northwest gives you the chance meet face-to-face with your guide, outfitter or camp host, and to view their success photos and/or videos, get your questions answered, and pick up a brochure.

The first is as early as mid-January, and they continue through this month, February and deep into March â&#x20AC;&#x201C; for dates and venues, see this issueâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Outdoor Calendar.

And while Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll be at the Portland and Puyallup sport shows, working the Yakima Bait booth and conducting fishing seminars, you can bet Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll be prospecting future fishing and hunting adventures too. NS Editorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s note: The author is a brand manager at Yakima Bait, and is on the management team. Find Buzz on Facebook.

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